Chapter Text
The forest was quiet; the only sound filling the air was the consistent crunching of leaves under the boots of a young blonde-haired girl. A girl who couldn’t have been older than the age of 6, Yang Xiao Long. However, the girl wasn’t alone. Sitting in a wheelbarrow pulled by the girl was an even younger girl, barely older than a baby, with red hair. Yang’s younger sister, Ruby Rose.
The reason the two young girls were out in the forest by themselves was a simple one: They were looking for their mother. Well, one of their mothers, Yang’s mother. Having recently found out that the woman she’d spent her entire life believing to be her mother was in fact not her mother, she was in what could be considered a vulnerable state.
So when she heard from one of her neighbours that, apparently, her actual mother was living in the forest, well, it was hard for her to stay where she was. So once her father had gone out for the day, Yang loaded her sister up and left to search for her mother.
And so into the dark forest, the one her father had told her never to go into, went Yang and Ruby. The two sisters were tiny against the scale of the forest; the shadows of the trees seemed to swallow the space around them, making it difficult for them to know where they were going or had been. But Yang was confident!
Like every six-year-old, she knew exactly what she was doing! There wasn’t any reason to worry about her and Ruby going out like this; that’s why she didn’t tell her dad or Uncle Qrow. However, dragging her younger sister in a wheelbarrow deep into a dark forest was tiring work. So tiring in fact that Yang quickly found herself looking for somewhere she could rest up and recover some energy.
To the young girl’s immense relief and glee, she quickly came upon an abandoned house. Sure, it may have had a large hole in one wall, the entire roof missing and something that stunk rather strongly heaped up in the corner under some sheets. But it was enough for Yang to sit down and rest for a minute.
So that was what she did. Pushing Ruby inside the abandoned shack, Yang took a seat on the battered remains of a bed frame. Resting her back against the peeling wall, Yang smiled widely at Ruby, still in the wheelbarrow, showing off the gaps between her teeth as she did.
“Well, we’d have to be close now, Rubes! I know my mum’s somewhere in here.” Yang’s voice faltered as Ruby just stared silently at her. The silver eyes of her younger sister managed to burn through Yang in a way that felt wrong. Almost as if the younger girl knew something about her, something even she didn’t know.
“You all right, Ruby?” worried about the blank-faced expression of her sister, Yang leaned forward with a furrowed brow. However, rather than answering her sister with a response that would placate her, Ruby stayed silent. Silver eyes boring into Yang’s face, yet her mouth was set in a gentle line.
The two siblings stayed like this for several silent moments, but eventually, it became too much for Yang. “Brothers, Ruby. What is with you?” jumping to her feet, Yang muttered under her breath while side-eyeing her sister. But not expecting a response this time, Yang continued past her and walked outside the shack.
Grumbling under her breath about how weird her sister was, Yang failed to notice as she stepped on a loose stone. Putting her weight down on the stone, Yang couldn’t stop the scream that slipped past her lips as the stone gave way underneath her before sending her flying down a hill she hadn’t noticed.
Yang’s cries of pain echoed through the forest as she rolled painfully down a hill covered in small stones and dead trees. It was a near-constant assault of pain to Yang’s senses as it felt like every inch of the hill was covered in sharp stones and easily snapped wood.
Quickly losing track of not only how long she had rolled but how far, it was to Yang’s immense relief when she finally came to a stop. Slowly stumbling onto her feet, Yang felt the tears of pain prick the corners of her eyes before just barely managing to hold them back. However, that didn’t last long as she began to look around the part of the forest she had ended up in.
Not only did Yang not recognise the part of the forest she was in now, but there was absolutely no sign of her sister. “Oh no… oh no…” hearing a sound that could only be monsters, Yang didn’t even bother trying to hold back the tears, ignoring the pain that shot through her leg with every step, Yang stumbled back in what she hoped was the direction she had fallen.
However, since Yang was just a six-year-old, she had no idea how to actually make her way through a strange and unknown place like this forest was. In fact, it didn’t even cross Yang’s mind to try and look for signs of her fall to try and establish which way she had come from. Considering how painful her fall was, there probably was a fair bit of evidence that would’ve helped her.
So as horrifying as it was for the young girl, it was hard to be surprised when, rather than finding her sister, Yang just seemed to make her way deeper and deeper into the forest. The shadows of the trees grew even longer, and the sounds of what she was now sure were monsters grew louder and louder.
“Ruby! Ruby, where are you!” wincing with pain at every step she took, Yang called out into the dark void of the forest. Desperately, the young girl hoped her sister could hear her. That she would call back to her in response and help lead Yang to her hopefully uninjured body.
But there was nothing.
No sounds of a young girl running through the forest.
No returning shouts of her name in response.
Just the sounds of the forest.
Sounds that Yang was quickly becoming painfully familiar with.
“RRrrrrrgh…” However, a new sound, a low growl, soon echoed between the trees around Yang, its suddenness making the girl freeze mid-stride. As the growl grew steadily louder, Yang didn’t dare to even breathe more than was absolutely necessary.
However, as the growl continued to grow without the creature becoming visible, Yang risked turning her head ever so slightly so she could see more of her surroundings.
Much to Yang’s horror, in the same instant her head began to turn, a heavy weight slammed into her back, sending her sprawling to the ground.
Yang’s scream pierced the forest’s sky as seemingly her entire body was suddenly alight with pain. Every nerve burned with an unending fury; her limbs felt like they were twisting off her body. Desperately, Yang tried to force it down, to push through the blinding pain.
But it was too much.
Yang just couldn’t take the pain flooding through her body. So as much as she might have tried, she couldn’t get back up on her feet. She wanted to, Brothers knew she wanted to, but try as she might, the pain had immobilised this poor six-year-old.
“AAAAAAAH!” but to Yang’s surprise, a shrill scream cut through the haze of maddening pain.
“Ruby!” It took her a moment to think through the still-present haze, but Yang soon realised the scream was her sister. The realisation sends adrenaline shooting through Yang, meaning she could just barely push through the pain enough to return to her feet and stumble in what she hoped was the right direction.
However, after covering only a few metres from where she had fallen, a heavy weight once again slammed into Yang’s back, sending her sprawling to the ground once more. But this time, rather than sprawling on her front, Yang had landed on her back, leaving her staring up into the starry sky of the forest.
“Why did you leave me alone, Yang? I thought you were my sister. But you left me alone.” appearing from nowhere, Ruby was suddenly sitting on Yang’s chest, her face pressed far too close to Yang’s for her to be comfortable.
“Ruby? What, no this this—” Yang’s voice caught in her throat as she stared up into the face of her sister. But as she stared and tried to say something, Ruby’s face turned wrong. Her silver eyes gained a sickly pallor, her lips split in a way that was that little bit too wide, and her hair grew thin and scraggly in a way that it couldn’t be so soon after Yang last saw her.
“Isn’t what Yang?” Ruby’s head twisted unnaturally to the side and her mouth slowly opened even as her voice continued to impossibly escape her mouth, “Isn’t how it happened? Isn’t this how I died? Although I guess how would you know? You disappeared and left me. Who knows what happened. You sure as hell don’t!” the thing wearing her sister’s face loomed over Yang as it’s voice continued to grow raspier and raspier.
“Maybe a Grimm ate me, or maybe I starved to death in that shack. But it doesn't matter, does it, because you left me all alone. It’s your fault, whatever it is that happened isn’t it?” The monster’s face warped into a horrifying grin, and that… that was the last thing Yang saw before she felt herself awaken in a cold sweat.
Pulling her blanket off of her sweat-stained body, Yang tried to sit up in her bed. But in doing so, Yang tried to lift herself using her right arm, her recently lost arm. So rather than pushing her into a seated position, she instead collapsed onto her bed. Resting her remaining arm against her forehead, Yang closed her eyes and tried desperately to ignore the nightmare she had just awoken from, even as her breathing grew heavy.
It was far from the first time Yang had suffered that particular demon; she had suffered from it most of her life. But even so, it still held the same power over her at the age of nineteen that it did at the age of seven.
That, combined with her inability to sit up, made Yang just lie in bed. This was how Yang had spent most of her time recently, lying in bed staring at the ceiling of the room. Rather quickly, time started to just slide past Yang, so she didn’t know how long she’d been lying there when someone knocked at her door.
“Yang you awake yet?” Yang’s head flopped to the side so she could stare at her bedroom door. She didn’t want to see her father at the moment; every time she saw him, she saw her sister. But then she also knew that if she didn’t say anything, he’d stick his head in and see she was awake anyway.
“Yeah…” calling out a response to her father, Yang waited a single moment before turning away to look out the window. After a few moments more, Yang heard the door open behind her, and yet still she didn’t look over.
“So…” entering Yang’s room, Taiyang started to speak, but rather quickly, he trailed off into dead air. This wasn’t uncommon for the father-daughter duo; ever since Yang was young, there had been a seemingly irreconcilable distance between the two.
Even so, Yang could only handle so much of the silence, “What do you want, Dad? I’m perfectly comfortable rotting in here.” Yang spits the words at Taiyang without even bothering to look at him.
“Seriously Yang? What are—No, I’m sorry.” Yang could hear the repressed anger in her father’s tone, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Even as he started to talk again, “But you’re better than this. This doesn’t have to be the end of you any more than—” once more Taiyang cut himself off. But Yang knew what he was going to say anyway.
“Just leave me alone, Dad… I deserve what happened, it’s just another in a long line of fuck ups… It’s just finally me that’s the one being punished for it.” curling up on herself, Yang pulled up her blanket, signalling her feelings rather clearly to her father.
Taiyang stood silently in the doorway, his eyes lingering on the huddled form of his daughter lying on her bed underneath her blanket. He wanted to say something, say anything, but the words just wouldn’t come. So all he could do was stare at her silently.
Yang lost track of how long her father was standing there. She just wanted him to leave. To stop trying these futile attempts to try and help her. She knew… she’d seen the way he looked at her ever since she was a child. Ever since she fucked up the first time.
She was sick of him trying to pretend to care now. As if he’d finally realised she was his daughter too. Yang knew what her father saw every time he looked at her because it was the same monster she saw in the mirror.
Gliding through the crimson-draped hallways of a dark castle was a woman draped in black, who could have embodied the word pale. Ash white skin and ghostly hair clashed with the black veins pulsing under her skin and black eyes. This woman was Salem, queen of the Grimm, and gliding through the halls of her castle, she was headed to a special room, one in which none of her other minions were allowed to enter. At least not without explicit permission from the occupant.
Reaching the imposing two-metre-tall door that separated the room from the rest of the castle, Salem smiled widely before the door slowly opened. As the door opened, loud music began filling the hallway with sound. Gliding through the now-open doorway, Salem smiled even wider at the figure with dark red hair bent over a workbench, their head bopping to the beat of the music as she did.
The young woman wasn’t quite as pale as Salem, but she was close. The ashy white of her skin contrasted with her dark red hair, even as it was covered by a pair of black overalls. Although that wasn’t the most striking part of her appearance, no, the most striking part of her appearance was the black vines inked across her arms and upper back with red flowers that dotted them every so often.
“Ruby?” Salem called out to the hunched-over girl, but she was ignored. The girl was far too absorbed in the project in front of her to recognise Salem calling out to her. “Ruby?” Salem’s voice grew tenser as she came to a stop behind the girl, and yet still she didn’t acknowledge her.
“Red like roses fills my head bada burr ba burr.” singing along to the music under her breath, Ruby continued to ignore Salem. Salem’s brow furrowed as she continued to stare at the young woman.
“Ruby!” Salem tried one last time to gain Ruby’s attention, but it was still to no avail. Finally giving up, Salem turned her black gaze onto the music player. Suddenly, with nothing but a burst of static to indicate something was wrong, the music cut out, jolting Ruby out of her creative haze and making her drop the welding torch onto her project.
“Shit!” lunging to the side of her workbench, Ruby slammed her hand down on the big red button, immediately cutting the power to her welding torch. Spinning on her stool, Ruby pushed up her goggles so they rested on her forehead before glaring with wide silver eyes at Salem before crossing her arms and pouting, “What the fuck? I was in the middle of something!”
“Yes, yes, of course you were, Ruby, you’re always in the middle of something. But if you’re unaware, I have been calling your name for some time.” Matching Ruby’s crossed arms, Salem cocked an eyebrow at Ruby.
“Oh… really… I see…” with a trite tone, Ruby started to scratch the back of her head before she stared into the corner of the room, “Sorry.” Ruby’s voice was quiet as she apologised to Salem, who just sighed in response.
“It’s alright, dear. I know how… focused you can get with your projects.” Taking a step closer to Ruby, Salem cocked her head to the side so she could look at what exactly it was Ruby had lost herself in. Trailing her hand along a bundle of fibres threaded together, Salem murmured under her breath, “Is this an arm? It’s rather impressive. Although if you wanted to upgrade yourself, I can do that with magic.”
“Oh uh, thanks!” Ruby’s cheeks grew flushed at the praise as she grabbed a bit of wiring to fiddle with, “But it’s not for me… It’s for Cinder.” Salem couldn’t help as the corner of her lip upturned at Ruby’s mention of the other girl. She couldn’t help it; Cinder had made it clear to Ruby what the older girl thought of her, and yet Ruby continued to make things for her.
“I heard about what happened at Beacon, how she lost her arm and eye.” Pausing for a moment, Ruby reached back into the toolbox sitting next to her and pulled out a small ball with wires trailing off it, “I already made her a new eye, so I was just putting the finishing touches on her new arm.”
Taking another step even closer, Salem took the proffered prosthetic eye, lifting it up to her own to inspect it, “You are aware that Cinder has already asked me to provide her with replacements magically, yes? Adding to that, Cinder’s never appreciated your gifts, so what makes you think this time is different?”
“I dunno. I just…” trailing off with a pout, Ruby pulled her legs into her chest. Letting what could only be called a fond sigh slip through her lips, Salem leaned in close to Ruby before wrapping her arms around the younger girl’s shoulders.
“Oh, it’s alright, Ruby, there’s nothing wrong with trying to make friends. You have been stuck here all alone for years with no one worth your time…” Trailing off, Salem lost herself in thought about something, Ruby wasn’t sure quite what. However, that meant that the two were now sitting in silence.
But Ruby couldn’t bring herself to mind. Salem was generally averse to physical affection, and Ruby had learned quickly not to initiate it. But if Salem initiated, like she had just now. Ruby was entirely willing to take advantage of the opportunity and bask in the attention.
However, as all good things must, it eventually ended as Salem pulled away with a curious expression, “You know, Ruby, as loath as I am to send you out alone, I do have a few things I need done, and you’re of an age now that I could trust you with them…”
“Wait, really?” Bouncing out of Salem’s arms, Ruby smiled at her with wide eyes, “I can help? Really, you’re gonna trust me with this? Awesome!” As if emphasising her glee, Ruby disappeared into a storm of flower petals that bounced around different parts of the workshop, pulling out a variety of tools and weapons she had made over the years, “this’ll be great!”
“Well, I’m glad to see you so excited, Ruby. If I knew you’d have reacted like this, I might’ve sent you with Neapolitan and Roman to Beacon; Grimm knows they needed the help.” Standing up with a small smile, Salem watched Ruby dash around her workshop. This lasted for a few moments, but once Ruby seemed to have all that she wanted, she appeared in front of Salem with a burst of rose petals.
“So what is it you need done?” Staring up at Salem, Ruby seemed to be almost bouncing in place as her mouth split into a wide smile. “Also, where am I going? Menagerie? Vale? Atlas? Mistral?”
Resting a hand against Ruby’s face Salem smiled softly at the girl, “Well I was thinking that you would be perfect for a retrieving an… individual from Atlas, actually.” trailing off Salem lifted her hand off Ruby’s face and rested it on her own, “In fact I think I might have another similar task in Vale I shall get you to complete at the same time.
“Really?” Ruby’s face split into a wide smile as she stared up at Salem with glittering eyes, “That’s amazing! Thank you so much, Mum!” lunging forward, Ruby wrapped her arms around Salem’s chest, and it was only after she’d been like that for a few moments that she realised what exactly she had said. Ruby’s face pale,d and she slowly pulled away from Salem.
“Oh no, I’m sorry, I don’t know why that—“ Ruby’s stammered apology was cut off by Salem pressing a hand against her face. Salem had never outright forbidden it, but she always reacted strangely the few times Ruby had accidentally referred to her with the title.
“That is fine, Ruby. I understand how excited you must be. And I know I have taken that role for you, and I do care for you like you were my daughter. So I am far from offended.” Lowering her hand, Salem took a step backwards to retreat towards the door, “I must take my leave for now, but don’t forget to pack for your trips.”
Ruby’s back straightened into a rigid line as she continued to stand in front of her workbench, “Yep, don’t worry about it. Everything’ll be spick, span and ready for me to go whenever you want me to!”
Salem’s response to Ruby’s proclamation was to simply smile softly before leaving and closing the door behind her.
Taking a seat at her workbench, Ruby waited a few moments to ensure that Salem had gotten far enough away from her workshop. However, after those moments passed, Ruby exploded into the air as a cloud of rose petals with a wide smile adorning her face.
“Fuck yeah!” dropping back to the ground, Ruby started to punch the air, “Fucking finally!” in a blur of rose petals, Ruby raced around her workshop, loading her various bits of scrap and tools into a knapsack.
Suddenly stopping in front of her workbench, Ruby stared at the prosthetic arm and eye lying there as rose petals fell around her. “Crap, I should probably give that to Cinder before I go anywhere, shouldn’t I?” quietly mumbling to herself under her breath, Ruby approached the workbench. Quickly shifting back into work mode, Ruby began to add the finishing touches to the prosthetic lying on it.
Lying down in the dark of her room, Cinder ignored the constant thrum of phantom pain that emanated from where her arm used to be. The pain was nothing. Cinder knew it would pass eventually, and even if it didn’t, there was nothing she could do about it.
And anyway, it was Cinder’s punishment, bestowed upon her by her lady. So she would suffer gladly. If it meant she could claw back a scrap of the standing she was sure her failure had lost her in the eyes of her lady, then no pain was too much.
“Heeeeeeeey, Cinder!” As the shrill sound of a scream echoed through her room, Cinder couldn’t help one thought that flitted through her mind. That actually, maybe there was one pain that was too much.
Wincing away from the bright light that Ruby’s opening of her door let into her room, Cinder turned away from the other woman. But to Cinder’s great dismay, that did little to dissuade Ruby.
“Damn! Do you have anyone looking after you, Cinder? I swear, you look worse than you did yesterday, you’re covered in weird black goop.” Desperate Cinder tried to force words out of her damaged throat, but nothing came, so on Ruby continued to yammer, “Well, good thing I’ve got these for you.”
It was these words that finally got Cinder to look back at Ruby. Cinder couldn’t help but notice the girl was dressed the same as always. Ratty overalls covered a faded, dirty dark red t-shirt, and her ever-present greasy goggles rested on her forehead,
But all of that was quickly an afterthought as Cinder saw the large black case in Ruby’s arms. Cinder’s stomach dropped as her traitorous mind started imagining possibilities of what the case may hold.
However, to make things worse, the case escaped Cinder’s view as Ruby placed it on the desk on the far side of the room. Now, Cinder was restricted to staring at Ruby’s back as she did Brothers knew what with the case.
Desperately, Cinder opened and closed her mouth, hoping that somehow she’d be able to say something to the girl standing in front of her. But nothing came. Silently, she just flapped her mouth open and closed without even a whisper escaping.
“Alrighty then!” to Cinder’s horror, Ruby finally turned around, and in her arms held a long metal… thing. Cinder couldn’t tell with her sole eye what it was from where she lay on the bed. But she knew that if Ruby had made it, she didn’t want it anywhere near here.
So, as some last-ditch effort, Cinder tried desperately to move some part of her body other than her mouth, hoping, praying for the first time in years, all to try and find some way to prevent Ruby from getting any closer to her with that thing.
But there was nothing.
So… even as every inch of her mind and body screamed at her to do something, Cinder could only watch as Ruby attached the thing to her—what remained of her arm. Now, even though the process didn’t hurt nearly as much as it by all rights should have, that did nothing to alleviate Cinder’s pure dread at having something Ruby made attached to her.
And within an instant, Ruby pulled back, a wide smile splitting her face, “All done!” Now there shouldn’t be any pain or anything, so let me know if you feel something.” However, before continuing, Ruby paused for a moment to chew on the inside of her cheek. “Actually, no, you should feel something, like it should feel mostly like an actual arm.”
Cinder tuned out Ruby’s prattling. Although even if she didn't, her entire body would’ve been focused on the sudden return of sensation in her arm. Cinder admittedly was surprised. Not only did this arm feel like her own had been returned to her, but the pain that had filled her body since the incident had evaporated completely.
A realisation that sent an embarrassed rage surging through Cinder. Bouncing around Cinder’s bedridden form, Ruby began babbling again, “Alrighty… considering the fact you haven’t begun screaming in pain, or spasming wildly, the prosthetic worked exactly like I’d hoped it would! Great now for the eye!”
Still stunned by the pain’s abrupt disappearance, Cinder could only watch as Ruby jammed a ball into her empty eye socket before fondly patting her shoulder and bouncing out of her room. “Seeya, Cinder! I’ve got some jobs to do, so I’ll be gone for a while.”
Turning her head to stare at Ruby’s retreating form, Cinder stewed in her embarrassed rage and ignored how amazing it was to see properly again. She knew exactly what ‘Jobs’ Ruby would have, cleaning up her mess. Yet again, Ruby was getting the chance to prove her superiority. But that wasn’t even the thing about the brat that pissed Cinder off the most, no, that was the fact that the brat was totally incapable of acknowledging her hatred.
Ever since Salem had saved her from the wilds, the brat had been there, undercutting her constantly. And all with a stupid smile on her face. Years she’d been putting up with it, and now she owed her continued existence with Salem to her.
So with Ruby’s smiling face burning in the back of her mind, Cinder tried to go to sleep. Desperately ignoring the fact that Ruby was the only reason it was possible.
“Baaabaaabaaa bababababa babababa.” singing under her breath, Rubyslipped through the castle to Watts’ laboratory. Because of the man’s proclivities, it was a fair way away from everything else in the castle. But even so, Salem’d be upset if Ruby didn’t check to see if he had anything for her before she left.
“Yoohoo! Watts! I’ve got some stuff to do, you got anything for me—” Bouncing into the laboratory, Ruby was shocked still by the fact that there was a red-haired girl’s head sitting on the workbench.
“Salutations! My name is Penny Polendina. I am currently in excruciating pain!” Surprising Ruby further, the disembodied head began speaking. Dashing forward in a burst of rose petals, Ruby gingerly picked up the head, realising as she did the bundle of wires that wormed their way out of her neck.
“Oh my god! What the fuck! Why are you a head!” questioned the head. Ruby slowly examined her. With closer inspection, it was clear that it was an incredibly advanced android. One that could seemingly feel pain, Ruby would be impressed if she wasn’t so horrified.
“The rest of my body was destroyed in the fall of Beacon. My head was recovered by the assumed dead Arthur Watts, and could you please unplug that yellow wire? That is currently attached to by pain receptors and causing me unimaginable pain!” Responding to Ruby’s questions with terrifying glee, Penny smiled unnaturally wide.
Pushing down the horror at what she had found, Ruby followed the head’s instructions and removed the yellow wire from her. “My goodness! Thank you so much! I appreciate the relief from unimaginable pain! What is your name?”
“Oh uh, I’m Ruby. Ruby Rose.” Slowly, Ruby lowered Penny back onto the bench, the feeling of holding a human head too unnerving for her to continue.
“Fascinating! Are you also assumed dead, Ruby?” Confused by Penny’s question, Ruby was kept from answering it by a male voice coming from the door to the laboratory.
“Ruby! What are you doing in my laboratory!” Rolling her eyes, Ruby turned to face the snivelly dark-haired suit-wearing form of Arthur Watts, revealing Penny’s head to the man. “Step away from the robot!”
“Brothers, I really don’t get why Salem keeps you around. What’s with the head Watts?” giving her best disapproving glare, something learned very well from Salem, Ruby’s silver eyes bored into Watts’.
“W-Well, it’s none of your business, Brat! I don’t care who you’re friends with; my laboratory is my space where I’m allowed to do what I want.” Watts did his best to stammer out something that sounded authoritative, but he failed miserably.
Turning with a sigh, Ruby gingerly picked up Penny’s head, “Hey, Penny? Are any of these wires necessary for functioning? Or can I just remove them all?”
It took Penny a moment to respond to Ruby’s question, the same moment that it took her to realise what it was that Ruby’s question really meant. “No, Ruby. My head, in its current condition, is perfectly able to exist as an independent being.”
“What! No, put that back, Ruby!” in the room’s doorway, Watts began to make a scene, but Penny and Ruby simply ignored him.
“Great! Uh, take a deep breath, then I guess.” Smiling at Penny, Ruby began ripping the multitude of wires out of her. Quickly achieving her goal, Ruby cradled Penny’s head in her arms before glaring at Watts,” Alrighty! Watts, as always fuck you, ya creep! I’m taking Penny. If I see you anywhere near her again, I will kick you out into the Grimm fields.” Without waiting for a response from the terrified scientist, Ruby left the lab and began making her way to her bedroom.
“I must thank you, Ruby. Being saved from that man has given me a sense of relief I have been missing.” Ruby just shrugged at Penny’s praise, however.
“Eh… leaving you would’ve felt icky, and sticking you in my room gives my roommate another friend while I’m gone.”
Angling her eyes upwards, the closest thing she could manage to turning her head, Penny questioned her saviour, “Roommate?”
“Yeah, she doesn’t spend much time here, but she’s here sometimes. She’s been a bit messed up recently, though, so she might like a new friend other than Oscar.”
Unsure of what exactly she was being carried into, Penny fell silent and waited to meet this roommate.
Storming through the door of her shared living space, Ruby bellowed out a greeting, “Neo! You in here? I brought you a new friend!”
Ruby waited for the silent response her roommate would give, but instead a young male voice spoke up, “Sorry, Ruby, she’s gone out somewhere. She wouldn’t tell me where.” standing in small sectioned off space with cell bars around it, was a slightly younger than Ruby boy with light brown skin and shaggy brown hair, wearing something that was surprisingly comfortable looking for a prisoner.
“Oh, hi Oscar.” Waving in greeting to the boy, Ruby walked over to him, Penny’s head still in her hands, “How’s it going? Got any wizards in your head yet? Oh yeah, this is Penny! She’s gonna be our new roommate!”
“Salutations!”
“Uh, hi, Penny. Ruby, why do you have a girl’s head?” Returning Penny’s greeting, Oscar almost immediately looked back up to Ruby with an anxious smile.
“I found it.”
Oscar waited for something more, but those three words were all Ruby offered. “So uh, how’ve you been today, Ruby?” Oscar's eyes darted between Penny’s head and Ruby’s eyes as he spoke, his cheeks reddening ever so slightly every time they did.
Walking over to the desk on the side of the room, Ruby gently placed Penny’s head down before responding, “Pretty good, pretty good. Finished Cinder’s new arm and eye for her, made a new friend, and I got some jobs from Salem, so I’ll be heading out on those about now.”
“Oh really?” Ruby’s eyebrow quirked as she heard what she could almost think was an uncharacteristic longing in Oscar’s tone. But shaking her head to dissuade the notion, Ruby turned back to him.
“Yup.” Ruby’s popped the vowel before cracking her neck, “Salem wants some people grabbed and brought back here, so I get to do that!” Ruby beamed at Oscar as she finished telling the boy about the tasks Salem entrusted to her.
“Oh, so you’ll be gone a while then…” This time, Ruby frowned at the strange tone in Oscar’s voice.
“Not too long, a couple days, a week max. It is me we’re talking about, Oscar. I’m unstoppable!” flexing her deceptively muscled arms, Ruby smiled at Oscar.
“Nfh, I guess you’re right, huh?” smiling softly, Oscar leant back against the wall behind him. “Alright then, just come back soon.”
“Pssh, will do you sap.” Giving an exaggerated salute, Ruby grabbed her bag before petal bursting out of the room.
“So… Penny, how’s it going?” Turning towards Penny, Oscar gave his best attempt at small talk. But before she could respond, Ruby petal burst back into the room.
“Oh, tell Neo I said bye too! Oh, and apologise for me for leaving without saying bye!” But only tracking a moment to say those few words, Ruby petal burst back out, leaving Oscar and Penny alone once more.
Turning back to Penny, Oscar repeated the question, “So Penny, how’s it going?”
Pursing her lips, Penny took a few seconds to think before responding, “Well, I think I made a new friend when Ruby saved me from the excruciating pain of Watts experimenting on me, so I think I am pretty good.”
Sliding down to a seated position on the floor, Oscar nodded agreement, “Yeah, Ruby makes getting kidnapped by an evil queen because I’m supposedly the next incarnation of her dead husband pretty worth it.”
Rather quickly, the two melted into an easy silence. Although one that was quickly broken by the sudden reappearance from nowhere of Ruby, “Damn, you’re sappy when I’m not around Oscar.”
Ruby’s sudden reappearance sent Oscar bolting skywards, “Ruby! I was—I—wait…” but after a second, he realised her hair was the wrong colour, “Neo…” growling the name, Oscar watched as Ruby shattered into shards of glass.
An occurrence paired with a similar effect on the other side of the room, this one, however, revealed a short girl dressed in refined clothes coloured like Neapolitan ice cream with matching hair.
Freed from her hiding place, Neo performed an exaggerated charade of laughing at Oscar. “Real funny, Neo. Ruby told me to say goodbye for her to you and apologise on her behalf for not saying goodbye.”
Suddenly, Neo stopped her charade, her cheeks glowing a surprisingly bright red as she straightened her back. Eyes wide, she stared at Oscar, almost as if she didn’t believe what he’d said.
“Yes, she did. She didn’t forget about you, but she had to run after dropping off the head—Apologies, dropping off Penny.” Feeling the stare of Penny’s unnaturally glowing eyes, Oscar corrected himself before she even said anything.
“Hello, Neo! I am Penny! Ruby saved me from experimentation by Doctor Watts.” nodding along to Penny’s words, realisation bloomed across Neo’s face as the head finished speaking.
“Well, uh, she should be back in a couple of days or so, apparently.” Speaking up for Neo, Oscar hoped the woman listened to him, but she was painfully good at giving no indication if she was or wasn’t listening.
But going off the fact that Neo just bounced onto her bed and grabbed a book, Oscar assumed she heard him. Following her lead, Oscar grabbed the last book Ruby gave him to read, The Man With Two Souls. Was it a little terrifying considering what he’d been told about Ozpin?
Yes! But apparently the book was written by one of Ozma’s prior incarnations, at least that was what Ruby had told him Salem had said. So Ruby thought him reading it might give him some insight or help Ozma show up. Oscar didn’t really care, though; he just knew Ruby gave it to him, so he was gonna read it.
Quickly, the entire room fell silent, each individual inside just waiting for Ruby to return. Each, unaware, however, of what she’d be bringing back with her.