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Code Remnant
Chapter One: The Factory, The Computer, and The Genuis Girl.
If someone were to ask Ruby what the hardest part of being the genius new girl, who skipped two grades was, she would’ve said that it was the attention that she received. Or the high expectations set on her by not just the teachers and her mother, but herself as well. Heck even just trying to fit in or not seem too out of her depth when interacting with her fellow peers had felt like climbing a mountain when she first arrived.
But nope.
It was none of those.
The hardest freaking thing about this school so far was the severe lack of easily obtainable recourse for her babies!
She never had this problem at her old school. Though her old school’s proximity to her old town was probably what made it so easy for her.
Beacon Academy wasn’t terribly far from the city, but because of Beacon’s rules and regulations she wasn’t allowed to leave the campus without a “Chaperone” I.E. Yang, her older sister.
The rules allowed for students who were living on campus and were 13 years or older to leave with permission from the security at the front gate.
Ruby was 11 (12 in just under a month!) and a freaking genius!
At least according to all the specialists Ruby and her parents had spoken with.
Brilliant enough to skip two grades, move to the mainland and live abroad (her sister being here with her helped but that’s not the point!). Yet people still seem to see her as a child who needed to be coddled and protected.
Smart enough to know how to weld! But too young to weld by herself... Smart enough to build intricate robots! But too young to navigate busy streets by herself. Smart enough to solve complex equations, but too young to sign a stupid piece of paper... no
she had to have someone else sign for her.
That someone being her older sister Yang... who had been acting like a butt as of late!
At times Yang would act all normal. A bright grin and a wave there, and ‘Sup’ here.
Then there were times where Yang would brush her off or make excuses...
Which complicated her current problem even further. She NEEDED Yang to get off campus.
The thing is Yang had set a condition. She would only take Ruby into town on Sunday when they had the entire day to themselves, (Something Ruby couldn’t understand why when Yang left campus nearly every day) and it was currently Wednesday.
But it didn’t bother her too much. She only ever went to spend time with Yang... who would have her attention taken up by her friends, leaving Ruby as an awkward wheel off to the side.
What was she to do?
Simple!
Bribe her sister into taking her with her today of course!
Ruby already had something planned too, something she just knew would change her sister's mind and maybe even help her reconnect with her.
Which left Ruby with just one final problem.
Currently stuck in class waiting for the bell to ring.
“Come on... Come on...” Ruby quietly muttered to herself, as her leg bounced impatiently as the clock ticked closer and closer to the bell.
Seconds passed like minutes.
“Seriously!” Ruby internally groaned.
Minutes passed like hours!
“This is pure torture!”
Hours... okay not even an hour had passed... but come on! Hurry up!
*Brrrrrrring
“Yes!” Ruby unintentionally cheered aloud, lunging for her bag and then standing to rush out the door.
Only just managing to make it halfway across the room before being stopped by her teacher.
“Bored you that much, did I?” A mildly disappointed voice called.
Ruby stopped mid step and turned to her teacher, Ms. Peach, who did not look too happy.
“Ooo you did it now.” Another voice came, almost a whisper, before she was rudely bumped into as the source of the voice collided roughly into her shoulder.
“H-hey!” Ruby cried, her voice cracking with frustration and anger, as Emerald continued past her.
“What?” Emerald asked innocently, a perfect mask on, turning to look back at Ruby. “You shouldn’t have stopped so suddenly like that.” She said, giving her a chastising look as if she was a child.
Emerald was making it sound like she hadn’t done it on purpose, but Ruby could tell she had done it intentionally.
“Yeah r-” Ruby started to say, before being shoved yet again.
“OH! I’m soooo sorry!”
Ruby stumbled a moment before spinning around burning with anger.
“I forgot we had a child in our class, didn’t see you there.” It was Cinder, the bane of Ruby's life here at beacon.
“I’m not a child!” Ruby shouted as she balled her fist and threw her arms down. It didn’t help and only encouraged them to continue with the ridicule, but Ruby hated being called a child.
“What have I told you Cinder!” Ms. Peach scolded her. “You will treat Ruby with respect and as an equal!”
“Of course, Ms. Peach.” Cinder said with an innocent smile and a tilt to her head. If Ruby didn’t hate her guts, she would’ve thought she looked pretty and not a fricken witch!
“And don’t think I bought that little act of yours for a second Emerald.” Ms. Peach turned her attention to Emerald, who had the audacity to look shocked.
“You and Cinder will both stay behind. Understood?” She asked looking from Cinder and Emerald.
Cinder nodded her head, continuing to look innocent while Emerald shrugged her shoulders with a quiet “What ev’s”.
“Alright everyone! Clear out.” Ms. Peach ordered. It was only now that Ruby realized that most of the class still remained behind, many stopping to watch the unfolding drama.
Ruby could feel her face flush with anger and embarrassment as she realized everyone saw her act out. Saw her yell at Cinder. Saw her act like a child.
“Wait in the hall you two.” Ms. Peach ordered the two girls as Ruby vibrated in place, struggling to keep her emotions under wraps.
“Of course.” Cinder's voice was thick with false sweetness. She smiled and started making her way past Ruby.
Even in her emotional state, Ruby was aware of her surroundings. As soon as Cinder neared her Ruby slid her foot avoiding as Cinder’s came down where it had been.
Cinder stopped, caught by surprise by Ruby's sudden movement, and turned to stare doe eyed as Ruby snapped her gaze to her.
“I’m not a child. And I’m not stupid...” Ruby seethed. “You got me once... You won’t get me twice.”
Cinder blinked at Ruby's statement, before her shocked face morphed into something more neutral, almost blank.
“Watch what you say to me Rose...” Cinder whispered, almost like a warning or a treat. Ruby’s face contorted angrily and with a sudden rush of adrenaline and courage she turned to square up to her and leaned closer.
“That's enough, both of you! Cinder, wait outside my room.” Ms. Peach commanded, throwing her arms between the two girls desperate to deescalate the situation.
The two continued to silently leer at each other before Cinder finally turned away and headed out the room, no longer bothering to put up a facade, with Emerald following.
Ruby continued to glare angrily as the girls left, even when the two were gone from the room.
“Ruby.” Ms. Peach gently prodded.
“What!” Ruby snapped, head turning sharply towards her teacher.
In one split second Ruby went from red with anger to pale with horror.
It was clear on the poor girl’s face that she hadn’t meant to respond the way she had. Hands instantly flying up to cover her mouth, wide shocked eyes with frustrated tears threatening to spill.
“I-I... No I...” Ruby mumbled behind her hands, backing away from her teacher in fear.
“It's okay.” Ms. Peach reached out and gently coaxed the emotional girl into relaxing. “I know you didn’t mean to.” She spoke soothingly as she tried to reassure her that everything was okay.
Ruby nodded, though she didn’t think it was okay. That any of this was okay. Taking deep breaths Ruby focused on calming her nerves, fighting tooth and nail to keep herself from bawling in frustration. She wasn’t a child!
Ms. Peach, who was watching her with a mixture of concern and sympathy, waited patiently for Ruby to calm down.
Ruby for her part had somehow managed to keep herself under control and after not even half a minute she was able to focus back on her teacher.
“Do you feel any better?” Ms. Peach asked.
“Not really...” Ruby admitted, a shrug of her shoulder, her face downcasted.
Ms. Peach nodded her head still feeling sympathetic for the girl.
“Of course, sweety. Though I feel you handled it well enough.” Ms. Peach said, grateful that Ruby hadn’t resorted to violence.
*Sigh
“Seeing as how what just happened is thanks mostly to me, I’ll keep this brief and let you off the hook for today.” Ms. Peach started, approaching Ruby and bending over so she could look at Ruby’s face.
“But Ruby... Going forward I expect you to pay attention in class... Okay?” Ms. Peach said craning her neck so she could get a better look at Ruby, giving her a look that said ‘understand’.
“Yes ma’am.” Ruby whispered, avoiding her teacher's gaze.
Ms. Peach continued to watch her student, wanting to say more. But with Cinder and Emerald waiting outside her room too, she decided to leave things alone for now.
“Fine... You’re free to go today, but starting next class I’m having you sit at the front.” Ms. Peach said, standing up and heading for the door.
“What!?” Ruby's head snapped back up, fear in her eyes. “B-b-but-” She stuttered.
“No buts Ruby.” Her teacher said from the door, turning around to face her. “Front of the class.” She said, a gentle knowing smile on her face.
Ruby who was in mid step with an arm outstretched froze in place before deflating in defeat.
“Yes ma’am.” She muttered.
Ms. Peach laughed good-naturedly, crossing her arms across her chest, and smiled reassuringly.
“Come now Ruby, sitting at the front isn’t going to kill you.” She said, her smile widening just a little as Ruby gave her one of the most adorable, baffled looks she had ever received. “Instead of thinking of this as a punishment, think of it as a change in perspective?”
“You just came up with that?” Ruby asked offhandedly.
“Pffft Hahaha Yeah I did!” Ms. Peach laughed, now with a full toothy grin. “But it's just brilliant!”
“Haha.” Ruby laughed back, her teacher's enthusiasm becoming infectious. “It is, I don’t think I could’ve come up with anything better.”
“Well, I do have my moments.” Ms. Peach bragged, her grin turning into a sly smile, chin jutted out and nose pointed up with a sideways glance towards her student. Ruby chuckled lightheartedly, as she reached for the door handle.
“Alrighty! I’ve kept you long enough! Go. Go. Go.” Ms. Peach encouraged as Ruby opened the door revealing the hall beyond.
Stepping out Ruby looked to her left and saw both Cinder and Emerald leaning against the opposite wall.
Ruby’s gaze lingered on Cinder in particular. The two watched each other intensely for a brief moment before Ms. Peach broke the tension.
“See you tomorrow Ruby, remember at the front of class.” Ms. Peach said, looking at Ruby. “Now you two, inside please.” Turning to the other two girls.
Ruby waved at Ms. Peach and then turned away and headed towards the exit.
“Geez! What a mess!” Ruby bemoaned. “Stupid Cinder! Stupid Emerald! And Ms. Peach! Grrr why me!”
Reaching the exit Ruby pulled the door open and stepped outside into the bustling world that was the student life of Beacon.
Groups of kids moving this way and that way. Idle chatter mixing in with animated chatter.
Ruby looked around, eyes scanning for the golden blond hair of her sister.
“Man... I hope she’s not already leaving.” Ruby worried to herself.
After looking around for just a bit more, and not seeing any sign of her sister, Ruby started making her way towards the center square where the vending machines were. Everyone tended to linger around them in-between and after class, if Yang wasn’t there then maybe she would find someone who would know where she might be able to find her.
Running out, Ruby made a beeline for the vending machines, bob and weaving between kids as they walked by, many giving her a look.
“Sorry!”
“Excuse me!”
“Pardon me!”
She apologized to each group she would pass. Any other day Ruby would’ve felt embarrassed for drawing so much attention to herself, but she desperately needed to find Yang before she left campus!
If only she hadn't been held up back in class! She could’ve just headed straight for Yang's last class, at least then she would be just behind her and wouldn’t have to work so hard to catch up to her.
Running past the principal's office building she came up to the vending machines, and as expected the place was packed with kids.
Ruby slowed to a stop and looked around. Trying to find someone who was easy to talk to and wouldn’t brush her off.
Lucky for Ruby, one of the first people she saw was Pyrrha! Not only was Pyrrha one of the nicest to Ruby, but she also shared her last class with Yang!
“Pyrrha!” Ruby called out to her.
“Hmm?” Pyrrha hummed, turning away from her friends to see Ruby running over to her. “Oh Ruby, it's nice to see you! How are you doing?” She asked.
“Hello Pyrrha, I’m good but I need your help!” Ruby greeted before explaining herself.
“We’re here too.” A teasing voice said.
Blinking Ruby finally noticed the others around Pyrrha. Juane, Ren, and Nora were all standing off watching Ruby with curiosity, with Juane giving an awkward wave.
The four of them were like the close-knit group in the school, even more so than the group Yang hung out with. So, the fact that Ruby didn’t notice them was a shock, and really, she should’ve expected to see them too as soon as she spotted Pyrrha.
“O-oh hi to you too guys.” Ruby waved shyly.
“Aww aren’t you just the cutest!” Nora cooed. “So focused on our resident Greek hottie that you didn’t notice us?” Nora came up to a now flustered Ruby and teasingly elbowed her side.
“W-w-w-what! N-No I- Well I mean Pyrrha is- Uh!
No- What I meant-” Ruby was lost now. Completely burning red with embarrassment, and a stuttering mess. Ruby, forgetting where she was and who was with her, covered her face with her hands and started muttering into them.
“So embarrassing... why didn’t... should’ve realized...” The group watched with a mixture of mirth and affection.
“Ruby... Ruby... Sweetie, she's just teasing you.” Pyrrha said sweetly as she reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“S-S-Sweetie!?” Ruby squealed, peeking out from behind her hands for just a moment and then returning back to hide behind them. Squirming even more than before causing Pyrrha to let go of the girl.
“Are you trying to flirt with her?” Jaune asked, a laugh just under his words.
“She reminded me of my sister and it just slipped!” Pyrrha said, turning to look at him.
“Well, she is just the sweetest most adorable-” Nora was going to continue her relentless teasing before she was cut off.
"Alright everyone that’s enough.” Ren finally spoke up, saving Ruby and giving her a small smile. “Ruby, what is it that you need help with?”
Ruby who had still been muttering incoherently into her hands had somehow managed to hear Ren and shyly peeked out from behind her hands.
“I-I... I’m l-looking for my s-sister, and I was wondering if you knew where she was.” Ruby finally asked, still hiding behind her hands.
“Your sister? Hmm... I think she’s already heading out into town with the others.” Pyrrha said thinking out loud.
“Yeah.” Jaune said with a curt nod. “As soon as class ended she and the others were already heading for-” Before he could even finish getting his words out, she was off.
“Thanks!” She called back to them, running off towards the school's entrance.
The group watched as the girl left as quickly as she came, blinking in slightly stunned silence.
“She is just so cute.” Nora cooed again. “I should pinch her cheeks the next time I see her! I bet she’ll make just the cutest noises!” She continued turning to the others with a cheeky grin.
“Nora don’t tease her so much. You’ll do more harm than good that way.” Ren chastised.
“What? But it's true! She’s so adorable I just want to hold her close to my bosom.” She continued her fawning over Ruby’s childish adorableness.
“Besides, she knows I don’t really MEAN anything by it.” she rationalized. She just enjoyed watching the girl blush and squirm.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Either way just ease up on the teasing a little.” Ren said.
“You know... I just realized something.” Pyrrha said, her arms crossed over her chest and her head tilted slightly up.
“Yeah? What's that?” Jaune asked.
“Why doesn’t Ruby just call Yang?” Pyrrha asked, looking back down at the others.
The group blinked and then turned to look in the direction they saw Ruby run off in.
“Like I said, just the most adorable.” Nora cooed.
~Code Remnant~
Running into the park Ruby stuck to the footpath, her hands firmly grasping the straps of her bag. Her face was firm, her eyes focused, and her heart was pounding.
Students who happened to be nearby watched in absolute shock and awe at her speed.
She sprinted like her life depended on it, like if she didn’t make it to her sister, she would literally die!
Okay that was a little dark... But it was working! At least she hoped it was. She was halfway through the park and still no signs of her sister.
Worry started to creep its way into her mind. That is until bam!
“YANG!” Ruby called out.
There she was, still a little ways off, a speck of yellow.
“YANG!” Ruby continued calling out her sister's name, doing anything to get her attention.
Yang on her side heard her. But pretended not to in some false hope Ruby would take a hint and leave her alone.
“Hey...” Yang turned, looking at whoever had spoken up. “I think I can hear your sister calling for you Yang.” Fox said, turning his head slightly towards Yang. Being blind his hearing was better than the others so it was no surprise he heard her sister.
“Nope.” She said, pretending not to notice her.
“Yang!”
“Seriously Yang. She’s only going to keep calling for you, ignoring her won’t make her go away.” glancing just ahead Yang could see Coco glancing back at her.
“Ugh fine!” Yang groaned, throwing her arms up and slowing her pace to a stop.
“Want us to wait for you?” Velvet, who was standing beside Fox to give him guidance if he needed, asked.
“Naa, I shouldn’t be too long.” Yang said, shaking her head. “You guys keep going and I’ll catch up to ya.”
“Okay,” Fox said.
“Hey, see if she would like to come along too?” Velvet asked, taking one last look at Yang as the rest of the group continued.
“What?! Why?” She asked, offended.
“Uh... why not?” Yatsuhashi asked, the last of the group, looking back at Yang, his face squeezing in confusion.
Yang grumbled to herself but shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess.” She muttered out.
Yatsuhashi shrugged his shoulders and continued with Fox and Velvet, while Coco stayed behind.
Coco stood there, leering at Yang through her sunglasses, a slight frown on her lips.
“You have something you want to say?” Yang asked irritably.
“Yang wait up!” Called Ruby’s voice.
Coco continued to stare at the blond girl before shaking her head and breathing out a sigh as she turned to leave the blond behind.
“Tch... whatever.” Yang muttered as she turned around to glare at her annoying little sister.
Ruby was jogging over to her, shrugging off her bag as she got closer, a wobbling grin and haggard breathing.
“Th-thanks for –gasp- waiting for me!” Ruby thanked as she neared her sister.
“What do you want?” Yang asked irately.
Ruby for her part tried not to let Yang's hostility bother her.
“I... I was... Uhmm...” Ruby sputtered, shifting the bag in her arms around, suddenly finding it difficult to speak.
“Come on Ruby I don’t have all day!” Yang snapped, her face pinched in anger.
Ruby’s body tensed up rigidly, neck pinched between her shoulders, as her face morphed into a grimace letting out a timid squeak. “I was hoping you would take me with you!?” Ruby managed to get out, shrinking in on herself, her arms wrapping protectively around her bag.
“Ugh!” Yang groaned as she rolled her eyes at this. Why! Why did Ruby always have to come along and ruin everything for her! How was she supposed to make friends if her little sister kept shadowing her like a lost puppy!?
“Why?!” Yang asked, throwing her arms up in frustration.
Ruby continued to try and shrink further in on herself, gazing up at her sister partially hiding behind her bag, looking like a kicked puppy. “I need parts.” She mutters despondently, burying her face into her bag even further.
“I’m sorry? What?” Yang asked, absolutely gobsmacked. “You need parts?! What happened to all those parts you got the last time we went into town?” She ranted, combing her fingers through her hair as she processed what her sister was saying.
“I ran out... again.” Ruby whimpered, pressing her cheek into her bag as she turned her face away from her sister, already knowing the kind of reaction she was going to get.
“You… ran out…” She enunciated giving Ruby a dumbfounded look. “ Are you kidding me?! You mean you already ran out of all the crap you got last time?! When are you going to learn to get more than what you need? To, I don’t know? Stock up or something!” Yang stated, marching over to Ruby.
“I don’t have enough room.”
“Not enough room!? You’re kidding right? The school literally gave you a whole room to yourself so you could have room!” Yang was now right in front of Ruby pointing an angry finger at the red tint haired girl.
“You have a room to yourself too!” Ruby countered defensively, a pitiful whine to her tone.
“Yeah, for now!” Yang scoffed. “It was made painfully clear that someone would eventually be rooming with me!
“I... look please just get me out of the school. I won’t follow you or the others.” Ruby finally uncurled herself and begged for her sister to help her get out of the school.
“Oh yeah sure! And then get in trouble for letting you run around by yourself? Yeah no.” Yang sarcastically drawled.
“Come on Yang please!” Ruby begged.
“Enough!” Yang snapped. “I’m not your babysitter! We’ll go on Sunday when we have the entire day free.” Yang said offhandedly as she turned around to catch up with the group who were now hidden around the bend.
Ruby felt absolutely heartbroken, curling in on herself again, that is until she remembered her bag or more importantly what she had in it.
“W-w-wait Y-Yang!” Ruby stuttered out, rearranging the bag in her hands so she had an easier time pulling out its contents. “B-before you go I-.”
Ruby didn’t even get the chance to finish, as Yang turned on her.
“Seriously Ruby!” Yang shouted at her, anger burning in her eyes. “Fuck off!”
Ruby hadn’t even gotten the chance to open her bag. She was left frozen in place, bag held loosely in one hand and the other hovering over the zipper.
Yang blinked, her mind finally catching up with what she just said. She could see her sister’s eyes mist over and her lips started to tremble, but it was only for a split second before her eyes burned with furry and her lips formed a deep frown.
“R-Ruby... I-”
“Fine! Whatever!” Ruby yelled at her. “I hate having to spend so much time with you anyways!” She ranted at her before turning away and running into the forest just desperate to get away from her sister. If she hadn’t, she might’ve noticed her sister taking a step towards her and a hand reaching out for her.
Yang watched her sister run off, guilt slowly consuming her.
“What the hell Yang!” She scolded herself. “What were you thinking! Oh, wait you weren’t, as usual!” Combing her fingers through her hair over her scalp Yang groaned in frustration.
“I should go after her...” Yang muttered to herself, looking from the direction of where Ruby ran off and then to the direction of the school entrance before sighing in both frustration and defeat.
“But it might be better just to leave her be... Don’t want to make things any worse than they already are.” She said to herself as she turned to slowly catch up with the group.
~Code Remnant~
Ruby ran, she didn’t care where to, she didn’t care how far, she just ran. Running past the paved car loop and deeper into the forest.
Eventually coming into a small clearing, she slowed to a brisk stride, starting to pace around in circles.
“Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!” She started screaming. “Fuck off? Fuck off!” Yelling the words Yang had carelessly spat in her face. Ruby knew that Yang hadn't meant it... deep down. But she doesn't care about that now.
“Screw you!” She cried.
“Yeah! Screw you Yang!” She spat. Angrily pacing around as she balled and un-balled her hands, her bag carelessly dropped to the ground after entering the clearing.
“Stupid blond! What the hell did I ever do to you!” She continued yelling to herself. “I just wanted to go into town!” Ruby’s voice cracked and pitched with her shouting.
The strange part was Ruby wasn’t crying. She was hurt, betrayed, and confused, yet she wasn’t crying. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t started crying, she sure felt like she wanted to.
Slowly Ruby’s pacing came to a stop as her heavy breathing turned to deliberate inhales and exhales to calm her nerves.
Looking around she found her bag just lying there on the ground. Walking over to it she plopped onto the ground, crossing her legs and gingerly pulled it onto her lap.
“I don’t even know why I bothered.” Ruby muttered, pulling out her laptop and recklessly tossing it to the side before reaching back into the bag and pulling out the fruits of her labor.
“She’ll still be mad at me no matter what, even if I was successful.” She muttered bitterly,while delicately pulling out the object of her frustrations.
Limply tossing her bag away she held the small metallic looking object in her hands cradling it as she looked down at it with a look of melancholy, brushing her thumb over it longingly.
What she held meant so much to her… to Yang! It was possibly the most important thing the two girls owned… well that Yang owned… as what she held belonged to her. Though Ruby would attest that it belonged to the both of them.
What she held was a camcorder, a really old camcorder that had clearly seen better days. If she were to open the screen out she would find the screen cracked, scuffed up all around its casing and duck tape holding its shell together.
This camcorder meant alot to Ruby and Yang… though Yang would argue it meant more to her.
This camcorder held a few of the last videos of their father… their father… who was gone.
Slouching back, head tilted back and slightly to her right shoulder, she gazed up absentmindedly staring off into space.
There she sat, a sense of defeat filling her.
Clenching her jaw she frowned deeply as she thought of her sister. How… How did it come to this? When did they drift so far apart?
Then her gaze fell back to the cam in her hands.
“What would you say to us if you saw the two of us like this..” She muttered, continuing to brush her thumb over it.
Though she couldn’t think of exactly what he would say she knew he would be disappointed with them.
“*Uhggg” She cried in frustration as she fell back in the grass, arms spread above her head, the cam dropped softly onto her lap.
It was here she lay, looking up at the shaking trees above and letting the calming wind soothe her nerves. She hated it here... she really hated it here.
If only she had realized sooner what those tests had actually been for! Had she known she would’ve definitively thrown them. It was only after she found out why she had taken them and what her mom and the teachers were planning. The worst part was she had performed even better than expected! WHAT!
It was out of her control after that. She was pushed ahead two grades... she moved to one of the best boarding schools in the world, Beacon Academy... and she left behind everything she had ever known. Her friends, her home… Her dad.
God... her dad… she had no clue when the next time she would get to see him again. The last time was a day before her flight to Vale. She had so much she wanted to tell him… though now that she thought about it, none of it good.
She had failed miserably at making friends… to be fair though she wasn’t even through with the first month of the semester, BUT she was trying… and while everyone was mostly nice and would let her hang with them… they didn’t feel like friends.
Cinder exists!
Then there was Yang… who, Ruby was 99% sure, hated her despite her many, many, MANY, attempts at a diplomatic approach!
In her humble opinion, she had been very patient with her butt of a sister. Some would even say saintly! Her dad always said that she was his little angel… though it's fair to say that he was biased.
With a somber look she fished out her phone, (wondering at the back of her mind why she hadn’t bothered to call her sister instead of wasting the energy chasing her down) and opened her photo gallery.
She instantly pulled up the first image she saw, one of her favorites, a photo of her family standing in front of a sparkling lake. Yang and Ruby were standing in the foreground, smiling brightly at the camera, their mom standing just behind them smiling sweetly, while their dad was kneeling down behind them with a hand on each of their heads, giving the camera his own blinding smile. They had been on vacation… their last vacation as a family. These pictures… and the videos taken of this day on the camcorder were all they had left of him.
“I wonder...” She thought aloud solemnly. “Would you be proud of me?” She asked, looking intently at the picture of her father as what little memories of that day filtered through her mind.
The wind picks up, the trees rustling frantically, and she closes her eyes, imagining that it was her dad. As if saying, “Of course I’m proud of you.”
“Yeah... I know.” She said, her eyes closing with a small melancholy smile as she let her arm fall to the ground with her phone.
Hey eyes opened, brilliant silver shining, reflecting in the sunlight.
“Thanks dad.” She said aloud to the sky above.
Time continued to pass as she basked in the serene moment, enjoying the wind, the grass, the sounds of the rustling trees and the occasional squirrel bark.
After what felt like hours, though had actually been ten to twenty minutes, she moved.
“Alriiiiight!” She groaned out as she sat up, stretching her arms above her head interlocking her fingers.
“I better just get back to my room...” She said, letting her arms drop back to her lap she scooped up the cam, before reaching over to her bag, grabbing it and putting it on her lap in place of the cam, then gently tucking the cam into her bag.
Turning away from her bag she scanned her surroundings looking for her phone and the tossed laptop. To her right her phone rested on the ground and she quickly shoved it into her pocket before looking around for her laptop.
Spotting it resting just a few feet away she leaned forward to grab the laptop from its place in the grass, just shy of grabbing it, she paused as she spotted something in the distance.
Just a few yards away from her was something in the grass...
“Wait... wha... what is that.” Stopping mid motion, she returned the laptop back onto the grass and crawled over to the spot.
As she crawled closer towards it, it started taking a more circular shape.
“What the-” Crawling right up to it Ruby looked down at the patch of area before her.
The area was round, grass cleanly growing around it, with what was clearly metal forming the circle..
“Um... is... is this?” Ruby blinked down at the baffling object with bewilderment. Looking up from the piece of metal to the surrounding forest around her.
It was certainly strange, especially in the middle of a forested area like this, but here it was an old, rusted manhole cover.
“Huh... I wonder how this got here?” She asked aloud, reaching down to pick the lid up.
Placing her hands against it she felt around it, trying to find a place to slide her fingers under to lift it.
Sliding her fingers under the lid she hooked them around the sides and lifted it up with some effort, straining her arms as she picked up the piece of metal.
“Man, this thing is heavy.” She groaned, as she gave up on holding it and letting it rest on its side. Keeping a hand on the top to keep it from rolling around.
Looking at it Ruby could tell it was old, green rust dusting the top. Spinning it around like a coin she found the other side to be a little better though still rusted.
“I don’t know how this got here...” She said, examining it with mild curiosity. “But it sure looks like it's been here for a long time.”
Looking at it for just a moment longer she looked over at where it had been lying.
She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting. Dirt? Definitively. Bugs? Sure. A hole giving way into the earth. Um... what?
“Wait... What?!” She gasped, letting go of the manhole cover letting it thud to the ground.
Bracing the ground around the hole, she stared down in absolute shock.
It was an actual manhole! With a ladder leading down, a damp atmosphere and everything!
Ruby’s mind was absolutely frazzled. What the heck was a manhole doing in the middle of a forest?
The walls of it were a brown-ish green metallic with a slimy sheen coating it. The metal tube went from the manhole entrance down for about six feet before opening up below. Metal bars jutting from the wall leading from the manhole entrance down to the bottom.
Initially she had thought that it had been just the manhole cover itself. Like someone had carried the cover from who knows where and dumped it here.
She could tell the manhole had been here for some time, the earth almost reclaiming it entirely.
If the walls of the hole weren’t encased by the grimy metal, and her more scientific side winning out, she’d have thought earth had opened a portal to the center of the earth or something, her more fantastical side losing.
Lowering herself onto her stomach she poked her head into the hole and gave a timid call.
“Hell-o?” She called, her voice echoing off the walls bouncing back to her. Yeah… it was a sewer.
She blinked owlishly down at the dingy floor below, before pushing herself up sitting back on her legs.
“So… uh… this is a thing.” She mumbled to herself. Still sitting back on her legs, her arms limp, hands resting in her lap, she looked between the manhole and the cover.
“This is like finding a phone booth in the forest… or a light pole… a working light pole… with no obvious source of power.” She muttered distractedly as she scanned the forest around her.
Staring for just a moment longer Ruby perked up and slapped her knees.
“Well this was something!” She exclaimed, turning her attention to the manhole cover reaching for it and pushing it back into place over the manhole.
Pushing herself to her feet, striding back over to her things, scooping up her bag and laptop and placing the laptop back into her bag before shrugging her bag over her shoulders.
Walking in between the trees she pulled out her phone, putting in a pair of earbuds and putting on some music as she walked.
After the sudden emotional roller coaster she had been through since the end of class, listening to some upbeat music was one of the easiest ways to brighten her mood.
Bobbing her head to the music, occasionally singing along, she came up to the car loop and turned in the direction of the school following the loop off to the side in case a car came up behind her.
As she walked the forest became less dense and after a minute the school came into view.
Walking back into the school Ruby noted how busy the school was even though the classes had been done for nearly an hour.
Students gathering around, small groups here and there. A few just lazed about in the open grass, while others ran around placing some game or other.
Lazily looking around, she noticed a few kids going by on skateboards and stopped to watch as they skated by, the lead boy kicking his board doing a flip trick.
Watching them go by Ruby watched with some interest, almost awe struck by the leading boy’s flare and style.
“ Ooo… maybe I should get a skateboard… sure looks fun. ” Ruby thought, eyes sparkling with fascination.
Turning back towards the dorms, Ruby swaying with her music, her thoughts turned to trying to come up with something she could spend the rest of her day doing.
“ Finishing my baby is clearly out of the question. I could finish playing Fantasy’s Final 20… Or I could draw up some more blueprints for my next baby! ”
Moving past the office building she moved deeper into the campus.
“ Though drawing up new blueprints will just cause me to want to finish my current baby even more… I could practice my coding! I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making a video game. ”
Leaving the office building behind and coming up to the vending machines, Pyrrha and the others long gone, her thoughts grew more frustrated.
“ Man, this really sucks…The only thing I want to do is finish my baby. Anything else feels like a waste of time… ” Ruby thought with a pout, hanging her head as she grounded aloud.
“ Stupid Yang! All she had to do was sign me out! ” A scowl formed as she brought her head back up, passing the vending machines, and headed straight for the dorm building entrance.
Reaching out for the entrance handle she grabbed it roughly pushing it open. Storming in had caused those who were just inside to turn to her and give her strange looks, though Ruby didn’t pay them any mind so lost in her thoughts as she marched over to the stairway.
“ I’m not a child! I don’t need some babysitter! Or chaperone!” As she reached the stairs, her thoughts continued to become more angry and errant, she stomped her way up them, her music drowning out the noise each step made.
“ I know how to take care of myself! ” Ruby continued stomping her way up the stairs, face stuck in a perpetual scowl, pushing past students who didn’t try to avoid her or causing those who did try to send strange looks her way.
Reaching the top floor where her room was located, slowing her pace and harsh stomping, she trudged down the hall, the music in her ears nearing the end of the song.
“ I’m more than capable of leaving the school on my own… ” Ruby’s scowl slowly morphed as she lost the motivation to feel upset and she grew disheartened. Taking in a deep breath she sighed in defeat, coming up to her dorm room and started to swing the door open.
“ If only I could just sneak out of the school without anyone noticing… ” Ruby thought as she took a step into her room.
“ Ha yeah right. ” She scoffed to herself, shrugging off her bag, kicking her door closed behind her, and gently setting the bag on her bed.
Pulling her phone out, Ruby turned off her playlist and pulled out her headphones, placing them on her bed alongside her bag.
“And how do you plan to do that? Huh Ruby?” She asked herself, speaking to the relatively empty room. “Stumbleupon some secret passage that-”
Ruby, who had been making her way over to her workbench, stopped mid stride.
“-that… nobody else knows about.” Ruby was standing frozen in the middle of her room. Her mind raced as she suddenly felt a plan formulating in her mind.
“Wait a minute… the manhole… I could… I could use the sewers to sneak by.” Ruby’s eyes widened at the realization, and quickly did a 180 and went back for her bag.
Reaching her bed she grabbed the bag, opened it and pulled out her laptop. Moving the bag aside she sat down on her bed in its place, placing her computer on her lap and opened it.
After booting it up she went to the internet and started doing a little research, and what she found honestly surprised her.
During her search she learned that the Kingdom of Vale was old and had its fair share of landmarks and historical sites. That included the sewers. Back during the great war tunnels were dug to quietly and discreetly move soldiers and supplies. It was an impressive feat of engineering to accomplish with a war being waged above the workers heads and after its completion was a huge help to the soldiers of Vale. It was after the war that the tunnels were expanded, renovated and turned into the sewers it is today.
Ruby hadn’t expected to learn that the sewers held such a deep history. But that was all. To her disappointment she was unable to find the one thing she had been searching for, a map of the sewers lay out.
“Drat…” Ruby muttered after nearly a full hour of searching. Closing her laptop she sat it to the side and sat there as she contemplated the possible course of actions before her.
“ This could… this could work… I’ll be able to sneak off the school grounds without anybody noticing. ” Ruby had crossed her right leg over her left and propped her right elbow against her leg with her palm open out to support her head.
“ But I have no clue where I’ll even end up or if I’ll even be able to find a way out. ” She continued to think, drumming her fingers across her face. “ But if that's the case then I could always just come back… and… and this could be the start of a grand adventure! ” A smile, the first genuine smile she had had for some time, formed wide across her lips.
“ Y-yeah! An adventure! Plus if I manage to find an exit on the other side then I’ll be able to sneak out whenever I want .” Lifting her head from her hand she uncrossed her legs to stand up.
“ Oh but what if I get caught! ” She worried, now starting to pace around her room.
“ I would be in so much trouble! And Yang! I’m sure everyone would want to blame her for some reason or another and I really don't want her hating me any more than she already does!”
Ruby paused in the middle of her room, a hand buried in her hair. She was beginning to think that this was a terrible idea. Too many things could go wrong. Too many uncertainties. Too many-
“ What’s wrong Ruby? ”
Her dad’s voice suddenly rang out in her head, almost like he was standing right next to her as he spoke.
“ I thought you wanted to go on all the rides Yang went on?”
It was an old memory… she had been very young, almost too young to remember, but only just.
They were on one of their rare family vacations, their mom finally able to take time from work to help them. The same vacation of the photo from her phone.
Yang had run ahead of them eager to hop on a ride at the amusement park they had gone to, causing their mom to chase after her.
But Ruby had fallen behind… frozen in fear as the ride required her to go into a dark tunnel.
“ But it’s dark and scarwy.”
She could remember the way he knelt down to her with a comforting hand on her head. Could remember how she was still uncertain, and how seemed to know how scared she was.
“ Hey now… It’s okay to be scared… and if you don’t want to go on the ride then that totally fine-”
“ Hurry up you slow pokes !” Yang called for the two of them, their mom standing patiently behind her.
“ - But… If you don’t then Yang is totally going to brag about how brave and cool she is! ” He said, trying to get her to relent.
But she didn’t… she just looked away.
*Sigh “Alright… You go on without us! ” He called, looking up to her mom.
“ Ruby isn’t feeling up to this one! ” He explained.
“ Suit yourself! ” Yang cried. “ Come on momma! ” Yang begged tugging on their mom’s arm, as she reluctantly left the two behind.
Ruby looked down at the ground with a pout on her face.
“ Hey it’s okay. ” Her dad tried comforting her, but she didn’t respond.
“ Now Ruby… I understand you’re scared… But you can’t let fear stop you from experiencing new things. ” He explained, getting her to look up. “ You’re young, so it’s okay to be scared. But if you want to do something, then you should do it. No matter how scary it is. ”
Ruby looked at her dad, processing what he was telling her.
“ Cause, later you’re going to look back and think… why didn’t I get on that ride. ”
Then….
That was it.
She couldn’t remember anything after that.
No matter how hard she tried… nothing more would come to her.
Why did she suddenly remember that?! Of all things and of all times… Like her dad was trying to tell her something.
“ Are you telling me that I should do this?! I seriously doubt you would encourage me to do something this dumb. ” Ruby thought to herself, a playful smile on her face.
Yet here she was, tempted now more than ever to do this.
To do something even though she was absolutely terrified of the consequences of being caught.
“ This is stupid… risky… and unnecessary. All I have to do is wait till sunday… ” Ruby paused, recalling how Yang had treated her earlier.
“ B-but… if I do this… I could rub it in Yang's stupid face… I can show her… NO! All of them that I'm not just some child! That I am Ruby Rose! I can do anything! Face anything! ” Ruby suddenly felt herself grow more confident and brave. Though deep down she knew that she wouldn’t breathe a word of this to anyone, not even Yang.
“ I- I can do this! NO! I WILL do this! ” This was it. Ruby had made up her mind, she was going to sneak out!
Turning back to her bed she reached for her bag. Pulling out everything she wouldn’t need, and setting them in a clutter at the foot of her bed, too eager to be bothered to place them in their correct places.
Rushing over to her dresser Ruby reached around the side of it and pulled out her rain boots from the corner and shoved them into her bag, returning she pulled out a change of clothes and quickly changed out of her uniform, not worried anyone would walk in on her changing.
Changing out of her school uniform she donned a pair of denim shorts that went just past her knees, an oversized plain gray t-shirt, her normal black stockings and her worn red sneakers.
Looking around she thought about what else she could bring. After taking a moment to think, she realized that she would be going into a disgusting sewer and there was no way she was going to touch anything with her bare hands. So moving over to her work bench she grabbed her pair of workshop gloves and shoved them into her bag. Turning back to her room she continued to look for things she may need. A flashlight would definitely be useful, she didn’t want to risk losing her phone in the sewers.Though after looking around for a bit all she had was a small pocket light she used when working on her babies. She would need some way to help her find her way back, so bringing her journal along with a pen would be a good idea. She was no cartographer but she was sure she could make a decent map to help guide her back.
Ooh! She knew! Snacks! She didn’t have any on hand in her room, but she could stop just outside at the vending machines and get a snack or two before her adventure.
Realizing she couldn’t think of anything else she could possibly need she turned one last time to her dresser and grabbed her red leather jacket with a white cotton lined hood off it.
Quickly donning her jacket she rushed back for her bag and slung it over her shoulder as she rushed out her room back the same way she came in.
Rushing down the stairs and out the door she ran to the vending machines… Only to have to stop and wait as a few kids ahead of her were picking out what they wanted.
So she stood there acting as natural as she could, or at least that's what Ruby thought, as she did seem a little stiff and was nervously glancing around.
“Uh… You okay kid?” One of the boys ahead of her asked after noticing her strange behavior.
“Huh?!” Ruby asked, clearly nervous and unsure how to respond. “No!” She blurted.
“... Riiiight…” With that the group of boys moved away giving Ruby strange looks as they did.
After the kids moved away Ruby ran up to the machine, grabbing some chocolate cookies and a few cartons of milk. Quickly stuffing them, though being careful not to crush her cookies, into her bag Ruby ran back in the direction of the manhole.
Running past the principal's office, onto the park path up to the entrance, Ruby continued to follow it up for a little until she got to the spot where she was positive she parted with Yang earlier.
After reaching there she turned to her right, the direction of where she had run off in, taking a moment to subtly (obviously) look around to make sure nobody was around to see her, she started running again, this time in the direction of the manhole.
After a minute or so of running she passed the car loop and moved deeper into the forest but after running a bit she slowed… and looked around in absolute confusion.
She couldn’t find the manhole? What? But she was positive that she was in the right area… at least… She thought she had been positive.
“Did…Did I run too far?” She asked herself, slowly spinning around in a circle, starting to feel a little disheartened. There was no FREAKIN way she already forgot where it was!
“Okay Ruby… Don’t give up yet…” Taking her time she started circling the clearing she was in.
This HAD to be the place, it was just camouflage really well was all, she had just barely seen it originally.
Moving deliberately and slowly, she searched… and searched… and- Aaha!
“There you are!” Ruby cheered rushing over to the manhole which had been just a few feet from her. The green rust coating the cover made it look like it was almost blending in with the grass.
Kneeling down next to it, Ruby couldn’t help but grin nervously as she started pulling on the cover struggling to lift it like last time. “Stupid weak nerd arms!” She grunted as she moved it, letting the cover land with a thud.
Looking down at the floor below, a good 10 to 15 feet down, Ruby felt herself grow a little panicked as the tunnel seemed to warp and go down further than it actually did.
“You got this Ruby!” She told herself, her hands gripping the helms of her shorts legs. “It's… just a… stinky… old… sewer.” Pausing for a moment it only just dawned to Ruby what she was about to do.
“The things I do for my babies.” She sighed out as she slipped off her bag, setting it to the side.
Kicking off her sneakers, she pulled out her rain boots,replacing her sneakers with them and slipped them on. After that she fished out her gloves and small flashlight and closed her bag shrugging it back on.
Looking back down the hole pausing for just a moment before she took in a deep breath and then let it out through her nose.
“Every journey begins with but just a single step… or something like that.” Ruby muttered quietly to herself, turning around and slowly descending down the ladder, the small light gently tucked between her lips.
Taking her descent slowly, Ruby tentatively placed one foot down gently applying pressure until most of her weight was put on the ladder and she was sure it was going to hold up before lowering herself down to the next one.
Ruby worried that the ladder wouldn’t be able to handle her weight, despite knowing the ladder had been designed to handle the weight of people much bigger than her.
Once at the bottom of the ladder, Ruby pulled the light out of her mouth and gave a great sigh of relief. Taking one last look up the ladder, watching the light come in for just a moment, Ruby turned her attention back to the sewer she found herself in.
The tunnel was wide, with some lighting hanging above space over the tunnel, terrible but enough to guide those who found themselves down there, its walls and floor made of solid concrete.
Looking from her right to left the tunnel went on in both directions. Knowing that going in the direction to her left just went back towards the school Ruby decided to go towards her right.
“Alright.” She said, pulling her bag off once again she pulled out her pen and journal. After returning her bag back to her shoulder she turned to a fresh page in her book and started her map of the sewers.
After that she started moving down the tunnel, the sewer water flowing like a river to her right.
“That's good.” Ruby thought aloud. “If I just make sure to keep the water to my right I should be okay.”
So it was. Ruby Rose, explorer extraordinaire! Braving the dank and dark sewer as she shined her light at her feet making sure there wasn’t anything in the way to cause her to trip and fall. Occasionally seeing huge fricken rats run by, scaring her and causing her to let out terrified squeals, which were totally dignified and not over the top.
“It's for the parts!” She would reassure herself. “Do it for the parts!” She would say. “It will all be worth it.” Anything she could say to herself to help keep her nerves to push on through.
As she walked on she would occasionally walk past side passages, but to make things more simpler for her she continued to walk straight. Though she would mark them on them on her very simple yet easy to understand map. If she reached a dead end then she could just back track from there and continue the map from there.
And dead end she eventually did reach. Coming to the end she found that the water way that she had kept to her right was not cutting her off, the path continuing on the opposite side.
“Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.” Ruby muttered to herself, looking down at the map she had drawn then looking back up to the path on the other side.
“Hmm…” Turning back around, Ruby went back to the last side passage she had passed, and absent mindedly went to grab her phone. Pulling it out she saw that it was nearly 5:30 already.
“I need to pick up the pace, it feels like this is taking too long I wont have any time to make it to the shop and back before curfew.” She muttered to herself as she started moving again, this time running as she rounded the corner to her right, switching from her slightly detailed map drawing to just using straight simple lines to hopefully (doubtfully) help guide her back once she found her way out.
Rounding the corner one more time, she found herself on the other side of the path she had been cut off on and continued to follow it… Only to come up to yet another dead end.
Okay Ruby was starting to worry a little. What if she never got out?! She had no way of calling for help! No one knew she was down here! She had her snacks and her milk but how long would that last her?
“Great job Ruby! Your brilliant idea got yourself killed!” She scolded herself. “You’ll never get to see mom again. Yang will probably feel guilty and blame herself. And I’ll never get to finish my baby!!!”
Slowly Ruby’s fear and concerns turned into full panic. This place was like a maze! Who was she kidding, drawing a map?! Crazy! Stupid!
Then just as she was about to start to lose it she paused.
Wait… was it getting brighter in here… or was it just her?
“Light? Light?! Light!” Snapping out of her stupor and continuing to follow the tunnel though at a quicker pace.
“Please please please please pl-” and as she came around the bend of the tunnel she saw it, the brilliant shine of the sunlight from outside.
Oh, ha haha! Holy crap! She did! She found a way out!
“Yes!” Ruby cheered, her panic turning into blissful relief, now sprinting with renewed spirits towards it.
Ruby felt incredible! A dazzling smile caused her cheeks to hurt. Sure she nearly had a meltdown and just about peed her pants in fear at the thought of never being able to find her way back out… But she did it! She had managed to sneak off the school grounds.
She felt so grown up! Everyone saw her as a child, an angel. A precious thing to be protected. But no more! She could take care of herself! If something was out of her reach or someone said she couldn’t do it then she would work even harder for it! She would break the rules! Because she was Ruby Rose! Genius extroardin- “Oh wow.”
It was now as she finally neared her exit that she realized where she was. Well she didn’t know where she was, but she could recognize a bridge when she saw one… even if it was from underneath it. The sewer tunnel coming to an end, multiple vertical metal bars spaced evenly across blocking her way.
Looking out she could see the bridge stretch out into the distance, supported by giant concrete pillars.
“Oh boy… I hope I didn’t go too far.” Ruby worried. The river did go through the town, but the bridge didn’t seem familiar to her at all… though she was looking at it from underneath.
Turning her gaze from the underside of the bridge, she looked to her salvation, a glorious ladder leading up to freedom.
“Please let this be a way out.” Ruby quietly begged, hoping that the forces that be were listening to her.
Dropping her bag to the floor, she put her pen and pad away and then returned the bag to her shoulders keeping the flashlight just in case.
So eager to leave the sewers behind she didn’t even think twice about climbing the ladder. Confidently reaching out and planting a foot firmly down, she started up.
Though as she was climbing up, she noticed the manhole wasn’t covered by a typical manhole cover but a sheet of metal.
“What the?” Ruby muttered as she neared the top. It was only once the cover was right in front of her did she realize that the cover was actually a sliding cover.
Hooking her fingers in the open slot, she held her breath as anxiety consumed her. If this thing turned out to be locked then Ruby was just going to give up! She would just sit down and wait for the end!
*Errgh
“Oooh!” Ruby audibly gasped, pushing the lid all the way open revealing the world above.
It opened!
Overcome with relief she scrambled to get out, desperately pushing herself out of the manhole and into the open.
Crawling away from the sewer entrance looking back at it like she was escaping a prison and worried she would fall back in if she didn’t watch it.
Her adrenaline was pumping. Her chest moved up and down rapidly as she heard her heart pumping in her ears.
“I- *gasp- I actually- *gasp- made it out.” Ruby muttered absolutely stunned that her crazy plan had actually paid off. Heck it wasn’t even a plan, more often than not when Ruby wanted to do something she just winged it and pretended that she had it all figured out. A harebrained scheme like this wasn’t all that unheard of for Ruby… but this one was taking the cake.
So much had somehow gone right for her. Finding the manhole in the forest, and then finding this exit and then said exit being unlocked! The stars were really aligning for her.
“I actually made it!” Ruby cheered, getting to her feet and jumping around with joy. Hopping from foot to foot she grinned brightly, and if her cheeks weren’t hurting before they sure were now.
She was actually able to sneak out of her school! She could get the parts she needed! Though she would need to make sure she didn’t encounter her sister and her friends. She wasn’t going to risk her ratting her out just to spite her.
“I gotta hurry!” Ruby exclaimed, sitting back down she kicked off her rain boots and swapped them for her sneakers, and stashed the rest of her things back in her bag as well.
And then… for some reason she stopped… She wasn’t sure why… but she did.
It was now, once she had finished putting her things away did she turn to see where the bridge was leading to.
As she turned her eyes widened and her mouth hung slightly open as she gawked up in awe at the structure before her, as the world seemed to fade to white around her.
“Woah…” She muttered. It was an old factory, clearly abandoned. But for the life of her she couldn’t understand why she was so struck by it. It was just like any old abandoned building you pass by in the city.
Its location was certainly strange, sitting in the middle of the river instead of along it, with a bridge seeming to be the only way in or out. It was huge, taking up nearly the entire island it was built on.
Maybe her traumatic adventure underground had driven her mad. Maybe she was still lost in the sewer, that would explain her random sudden interest with some abandoned building.
Looking around Ruby saw that most of the area around was wooded, a building or two swallowed by the trees could be seen at the end of the road, but from this angle she couldn’t tell how close to the city she was. The place felt truly isolated.
Lost in a trance she slowly walked across the bridge, her eyes fluttering up the building as she got closer, only leveling once she got nearer to its entrance.
As she entered the building she suddenly jolted to reality, like waking from a vivid dream.
She found herself in a large room, a walkway that extended down the length of the building, with another walkway on the opposite wall, overlooking the floor below.
Chains hung from the steel beams above.
To her left, tucked in the corner of the factory, were the stairs to the floor below.
The bottom floor was open and practically empty, just rubble and abandoned wooden crates littered around.
“Well… this is… kind of underwhelming.” Ruby muttered, looking around with a lost expression.
Even though she was more aware of herself and her surroundings she still felt compelled to explore the place.
Turning to the stairs Ruby started making her way down. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to look around a little. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find something cool in some of the wooden crates.” She muttered to herself.
Reaching the bottom floor Ruby examined the way the building stretched on, how the emptiness gave the place an eerie feel. The place was abandoned, clearly forgotten to time and yet she felt like she shouldn’t be here… and needed to be here at the same time.
Tentatively taking a step out she paused, like waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then she took another… and another. Though she knew nothing would happen to her she still felt on edge, so as she went over to examine the creates she swirled her head around for any sign of trouble.
Reaching a few of the crates, just under the walkway opposite the factory entrance, she pushed the lid off of one of the crates letting the rotten wood crumble on the floor, and peered into the crate.
Empty… just like the rest of the place.
“Graa! What am I even doing here!” Ruby groaned, seemingly coming to her senses. Turning on her heels she marched back to the stairs, eager to get rid of the unsettling feeling consuming her.
“I don’t have the time to- to…” She paused.
There it was again…
That feeling… calling out to her.
Halfway back to the stairs, noticing something out of the corner of her eye, she turned her head just slightly to her left.
While the manhole in the woods had been something that had been easy to miss, this wasn’t and Ruby could instantly tell what it was. Turning away from the stairs Ruby tentatively walked over to it, knowing one wrong step and she would be toast.
What she found was an elevator shaft, a metal frame and steel cables and all.
Coming over to the edge of the opening she peered over and looked down the tunnel. She was shocked to see just how far down the elevator went, with what looked like the lift itself resting below. Turning her head to look above she found nothing, just the cables climbing up but no other floor to get off at, not even the walkway above.
“Okaaay.” Now this day was just getting even more crazy. She had stumbled across a random sewer entrance in the woods and like the genius that she was, and instead of reporting it she decided to use it as a way to sneak out of school. And now she was standing in the middle of what she thought was an abandoned factory (not so sure about that now) that had an elevator that went even further down.
“I get the feeling I shouldn’t be here.” She said, finally stating the obvious. Looking around once again the strange feeling now replaced with fear and worry.
“I- I should go.” Ruby said, quickly backing away from the elevator and running back up the stairs.
“I’ve wasted too much time, if I don’t head back to school now I might not be able to make it back before curfew.” Ruby was just trying to rationalize with herself. What she was doing was stupid… sneaking out of school… a selfish attempt to rebel. At least that’s what she was telling herself… because the truth was, she was scared.
Reaching the top of the stairs she raced for the exit and was just about to leave the place and this feeling behind… when it returned and in full force.
Help…
She froze in mid run, nearly tripping over herself.
“Huh?” She spun around, again nearly falling over, taking a step back but no longer running away.
… Please
That feeling… like someone or something was calling out to her.
“Is anyone there?” Ruby tentatively called out. Only to get silence in response.
“Hello!?” This time louder… and still silence.
“Okay this place is haunted!” Backing away even more, she turned around and headed back for the sewer entrance.
“I don’t know how much time I have left before curfew, but now that I’ve managed to do this once I can just do this again another day.” Ruby reason, marching across the bridge, too put off by the factory to care about finding parts any more.
Flinging her back pack off, she pulled out her note book and flashlight forgoing her rain boots and gloves, more interested in getting back to school than worrying about running her shoes or touching something nasty.
…
Closing her bag she flung it back on and kneeled down-
…
Stuck her feet into the hole-
…
slowly started lowering herself into the hole-
…
She paused… she freaking paused!
“Just go… Ruby!” She yelled at herself.
“There’s nothing there, just an old abandoned factory.” She continued, tensing up as she tried to force herself down.
Her body refused to budge.
“You’re just imagining things…” Ruby chided herself, looking down at the space between her body and the ladder.
“You’re… just…” Ruby looked up at the factory.
…
“Imagining… things…” It was calling to her.
…
…
…
“Aww screw it!” Ruby cried frustratedly, pulling herself out of the hole and marched her way back over to the factory, down the stairs and back over to the elevator shaft.
Her breathing was erratic. Her chest felt tight. Her mouth dry. Her hands clammy.
“You’re absolutely insane Ruby.” She told herself, as she neared the elevator shaft again.
Coming up to the edge she looked down the shaft, the lift still at the bottom.
“Someone’s down there…” Ruby muttered. “ Has to be… so that's your cue to leave!” The logical part of her brain screamed at her.
…
Ruby looked back to the stairs, fear etched into her face, then back down the shaft.
“H-he-hello!?” She tentatively called out, no more than a whimper.
…
Ruby waited, apprehension taking hold of her, as if her pathetic attempt at speaking up would wake the dead.
“He-Hello!!?” A little louder this time though still pathetic sounding.
Ruby stood, arms tucked into her chest and a clenched fist brought to her lips, frozen by fear yet too stubborn to run away… all thanks to this nagging feeling.
“This is sooooo stupid!!!!!” Ruby desperately whimpered, turning to take one last look back to the stairs.
“I-I’m… I’m coming down!” Turning back to the elevator shaft, she called out again giving a warning to whoever may be down there. Hopefully if she didn’t spook them then maybe whoever was down there wouldn’t outright end her life.
Hesitantly turning from the lift down below to the call button to her right.
“Hmm… M-maybe it was just left down there… Yeah… YEAH…” Ruby’s anxiety filled fear turned into nervous relief as she reached for the call button, fully expecting nothing to happen once she pressed it.
“I doubt this palace still has any power-”
With the press of the button the lift came to life, the motors purr while the steel cables groan and grind, and the lift starts to head up.
“Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap!” Panic quickly took over Ruby again. There definitely had to be someone down there! And now they knew someone was up top!
“I’m so screwed!” Ruby cried hands in her hair as she started walking in random patterns, as her thoughts ran wild.
“ You’ve done it now Ruby! Found some super secret government facility! Or some mad scientists lab! Or a death trap! ” As she paced around lost in her thoughts the lift settled on her level, the sound of thin metal moving.
“ Gaa! What does it matter what I’ve stumbled across! I’m dead! I’m dead! Dear god I am so dead! ”
…
“ I’m going to jail! Mom is going to kill me! No- first she’ll blame Yang and then the two will kill me together! ” Genuine tears were starting to fill her eyes as her thoughts got increasingly more distraught.
…
“ I’ll become a delinquent! I’ll drop out of school! Sell drugs to get by! Or worse!! ”
… Please…
Ruby finally snapped out of her spiraling and turned to look at the elevator.
Eyes wide, tears threatening to spill, with a mixture of confusion and fear in them, and a slightly agape mouth.
… Help
Closing her mouth she swallowed the lump in her throat, though it did nothing to ease the tension. Her body trembled as she struggled to move.
…
She took a step and moved towards the lift. Stepping on it she turned to the only two buttons on the lift, one to go up and the other to go down.
Raising a shaking hand, hesitantly reaching out to the button that would lower the lift.
Brushing her fingers over the button she froze, scared of the consequences she would face once she pressed the button.
“Okay Ruby, you’ve made many bad decisions today, what’s one more?” Muttering she took in one last lung full of air through her teeth and pressed the button.
The lift's door slid closed and the lift slowly descended.
“Next stop… soul crushing regret.” Ruby grimaced, having sealed her fate as soon as the lift closed. She couldn’t go back now… whoever was down here, she would meet them soon enough.
The ride down felt like an eternity, though brief in reality, thanks to Ruby’s overloading mind. Consumed by her negative thoughts, Ruby started spiraling again, all the worst case scenarios coming to mind.
“ This is soooo stupid! It’s clear I shouldn’t be he- ” Then the lift came to a stop, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts.
Freezing up she held her breath and waited for the adults with their weapons drawn to come into view once the metal door opened,
But instead of the metal door that she had entered through opening, the wall to her right lifted up revealing a sci-fi looking high tech door.
Pinching her neck between her shoulders and clutching her hands to chest, Ruby wide side-eyed the wall that had opened, comically blinking once, then twice.
Slowly unfurling her body she turned to face the door and to a tentative step towards it.
Wetting her lips Ruby swallowed the lump in her throat and waited for the end to come. But to her surprise nothing happened. No random voice calling over a speaker, the door didn’t fly open, and no one came to “detain” her.
“Wha?” Ruby muttered, blinking rapidly as she started to relax.
The door was sealed by four locks on all sides of it and a final round lock at the center. Whatever was on the side was important… Which caused Ruby’s curiosity to skyrocket.
“Woah… What’s all this?” Ruby wondered aloud as she walked up to the door and placed a hand on it.
Examining the door resulted in no obvious clue as to how to open it. No keypad, switch, or button to open it. Turning back to the lift and examined it a little closer.
It was plain, the bare minimum, literally a box being held precariously over a large drop… at least she figured it was a large drop… okay most likely the drop wasn’t that large at all… still… kinda spooky.
That left the only really interactable thing on the lift… its control box. Walking over to it she felt around it, looking for anything that would allow her to open it. Finding a latch on the side she flipped it and was able to open the box.
She was fully expecting to find a mess of wires, and she had planned to cause a short, it would either trip the high tech door causing it to open… or force her to call her sister for help as the lift would no longer function.
But to her surprise, inside the box was a keypad!
“A-ha! Now that's more like it!” She said with an eager grin as she opened the door fully and went to work trying to figure out how to use the keypad to open the door.
“Hmm…” Ruby took a step back, arms crossed as she looked at the keypad with a tilt to her head.
“Oh!” Suddenly struck by an idea Ruby slipped her bag off and pulled out her small flashlight.
“Hehehe! This is just like those spy movies!” She giggled, flicking on the flashlight she shined the light over the keypad looking for any fingerprints.
“Oh… Hmm…” Ruby’s giddy joy quickly drained into mild disappointment.
“Okay.” Ruby drawled, not a single hint of a fingerprint on the keypad. “Either the code contains all the numbers…or this hasn’t been used in a very long time.” Ruby pouted as she clicked the light off and tossed it back in her bag.
Looking at the keypad Ruby was tempted to just start pressing random numbers, but worried a security alarm would trigger or the system would lock her out.
“Darn…” Ruby muttered, her pout growing more pronounced. Looking down at the keypad Ruby buried her left hand in her hair trying to think of something else she could do. There were plenty of things she could try, though many of them required her to go back to school for her tools… and she didn’t plan on returning here no matter how curious she was. No… if she didn’t get inside now then she would just move on.
“Gaa… Stupid supernatural-esk sensations!”: Ruby cried, bringing her other hand to her head fraying her hair even more than it already was.
“I have no clue what else I could do!” Ruby frustratedly threw her hand up before letting them fall to her sides. “I can’t… I can’t!” Ruby screamed. “I’m not coming back! I refuse to come back!” Okay now Ruby felt like she was losing her mind, yelling at whatever was causing her to feel… feel… to feel like she needed to do something.
She couldn’t explain why… but ever since coming out of the sewer and seeing this factory she’s felt this compelling force… like she was here for a purpose… like fate… or destiny…
Her… Dad… always said her sister and her were destined for great things… you know the same stupid sentimental things all loving parents tell their kids… yet when her Dad said it… she felt like he was right… and with how smart she was… she knew he was… at least she wanted him to be.
Everyone expected so much out of her… and yet why did it feel like everyone was just holding her back… No… That wasn’t true… everyone encouraged her, even her sister did. The problem was her herself.
Maybe this was why she had been feeling so frustrated… why she was doing what she was doing… why she was so scared… scared of failing. Of letting him down.
“Please Dad… can’t I just… try again when… ugh I don’t know!? When I feel ready?” She asked looking up at the lift’s ceiling, desperate for an answer.
But the feeling persisted.
Ruby continued to stare up at the ceiling, her frustration turning into numb exhaustion.
“Right… Right! I gotta figure this out by myself.” She muttered looking from the ceiling down at her shoes for a few moments to collect herself before picking her head back up to look back at the keypad.
“I seriously doubt this is going to work… but I could try resetting the code.” Ruby said, reaching for the keypad with both hands, she pressed the keys of each corner and held them down together at once.
Holding it for a moment she waited for any sign of the system registering… something.
Then just as she was going to let go, a sound came from the door behind her.
“Oh!” Ruby cried letting go of the buttons she turned to the door. It hadn’t changed at all, but she knew what she heard.
Turning back around she looked back to the keypad and wondered what to use as the new code.
“I guess I’ll just use my birthday.” Ruby rationalized, it would be the easiest to remember… though she totally did not plan to come back here. Nope! No matter what she was not coming back.
Pressing the buttons one after the other, she felt the feeling return though this time it didn’t feel overwhelming… no this time it was more… encouraging.
After putting her birthday in the same noise from before happened again, and again she turned to the door… still it refused to open.
Turning back to the keypad she put in her birthday once again, and again the noise responded… but still the door refused to open.
“Aww!” Ruby whined… “It’s probably just responding to the incorrect code… Maybe I didn’t reset it after all.” Yet… even though she realized this the feeling was still going strong… No! Even stronger than ever before!
… One more time
“One… One more time!” Ruby vehemently declared. “This time with feeling!”
Reaching out she pressed the numbers again.
One…
Zero…
Three…
One…
With each press she felt the feeling fuel her. Before she had felt scared, even intimidated, but here and now… on the edge of her reaching her destiny… she felt excited! Empowered! Mature…
She pressed the last key.
*Vroo
Suddenly the door behind her came to life.
Spinning around she watched with wide excited eyes as the locks came out of place, while the center lock spun in place before popping out. Smoke or possibly dust expelled from the door and just like that the door separated into two, retreating into the walls and revealing the room within.
Ruby, a grin quickly forming, took a step forward and stepped off the lift into the room.
“Sweet mother of RNG gods, what the heck is this place!?” Ruby marveled as she looked all around the room.
Wires extended out of each corner of the room and ran across the floor for a foot or so before going back into hiding via the ground. But Ruby could tell they were the wires were heading.
Walking towards the center of the room, where a circular shaped machine sat, as she looked on in wonder at the tech before her.
“What is this?” She asked running her hands gently along the machine in front of her.
It was circular, wide at the bottom becoming narrower at the top. Eight equally space pillar like posts jutting from the machine and curved with the tech. The inner part of it dipping back in, like a bowl.
“Oh… interesting.” She muttered as she discovered that on the inside it had multiple, what look to be, lenses.
“This is a projector… and that is the interface…” She theorized as she looked from the bowl like computer to the hanging machine just to the side.
Picking herself up and moving to the hanging interface she marveled at it. It was huge, supported by a circular pillar, while the circular pillar was supported by two of the walls of the room, above the lift and the wall across from it.
Ruby gave an impressed whistle.
“Wow…” It was the only thing she could think to say. Like, this place was just insane!
What was it for? The factory? No… why build the factory's main computer room under ground? When it would be easier and cheaper to build it top… no, whoever built this… built it after the factory was abandoned… had to… otherwise the factory would still be in use… even as a front… or they would have removed everything.
Right?
Turning her attention back to the monitors she started to wonder how she was going to power this thing.
“ Woah woah woah! Power it?! You want to power it?! Are you crazy?!”
Ruby shook her head vigorously, trying to shake some sense into herself.
“ But… like what’s this all for? Why do I feel like I’m needed here for something… Something… ”
Looking around she searched for an answer.
“ Listen to your conscience, Ruby! This so-called feeling that you’ve been having since getting her is nothing but a combination of hallucinations, fear, and gas! Get the! Fricken heck! Out of here!” She continued to yell at herself.
“NO!” Ruby yelled, only to quickly cover her mouth… what… What if whoever built this is still nearby? What if they only stepped out for a moment? They could be back any time now!
“ That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, you butt!”
“I- I… I should-'' Ruby was just starting to agree with herself when she turned to leave she saw a ladder just behind her… leading to a floor below.
“ Oh no… ”
“Oh no… no way… there's even more!” She breathed out, excitedly rushing over to the ladder.
“ Oh come on! We were just on the same wavelength for… like a second! Which… honestly isn’t much, but come on! That’s more than enough time to… wait wait! Please no! Turn baaaaack!”
Ruby could just hear herself pleading with the uncontrollable curiosity that was her thirst for knowledge. Pleading with herself to stop… but the truth was… she didn’t think she would be able to… not now… not after getting the lift to open.
Climbing the ladder down, she saw the room below. Just as big and open as the room above. But instead of a computer room she found something… stranger… which was saying something as this whole situation was strange.
“Woah!?” She breathed as she reached the bottom of the ladder and looked at the room she found herself in.
It was practically the same.
Same looking walls…
Same looking floor…
Same looking door to the lift…
The big difference were the three huge pillars jutting from the ground, and the massive amount of wires extending from the pillars to the ceiling above.
“Holy… Crap…” Ruby couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
The wires she had seen above were coming from here, and what's more is that more wires jutted out of the pillars backs and traveled a foot before going into the ground again.
“Don’t… Don’t tell me there's another floor beneath this one?” She wondered aloud.
Walking to the center Ruby looked from pillar to pillar. Each one identical to the next.
“What are these for?” She asked, coming up to one of the pillars and placing a hand against it.
The design on it was just like the main door, causing her to look at the main door and then back to the pillar.
“Huh…” She wondered aloud. Taking her hand she instead knocked her knuckles against the metal and heard a hollow sound in return.
“Well… there goes my theory of these being data silos… or even just storage.” She stepped away from the pillar and went to the keypad for the lift.
“ Oh! Please tell me we’re finally getting out of here!?”
“Shut up.”
“ No! ”
Reaching the pad, she put in her birthday, happy to see that the change had made it to all the keypads, and stepped onto the lift after it descended and the door finally opened.
Moving to the lifts panel she pressed the button to take her down, the door closing behind her, and the wall coming down over it.
Ruby suddenly felt that sensation returning again. This was it… this was where she needed to be. The final floor… the computer room.
“ It’s not too late… We can still go back. ”
The ride down was over in an instant. The wall rising up and revealing the door to the computer itself.
Again the door whirled open, smoke billowing out as the door separated and moved into the walls.
The room beyond greeted her.
It was cold, extremely cold, and empty.
“ Nothing! Great! Let's go back now! ”
Ruby ignored the voice telling her to run and took a single step into the room. The room was indeed empty, with vents along the walls and the floor.
Looking down at the floor, Ruby could see a series of lines connecting a strange shape, but from this angle she couldn’t make the symbol out.
Looking up from the floor she turned to look at the keypad on the wall.
“ Listen to me! Just turn around and head back to school! ”
Stepping up to the keypad she put in her birthday again, but this time something in the room activated.
Spinning around she watched as the room lit up.
A circular hatch on the ground opened up, and from within rose a wide cylindrical machine and once it came to a stop another cylindrical machine rose from the center of the first. This one towering over the entire room.
“ Woah .”
“Woah.” Ruby breathed out, her breath visible in the air.
“This… This is it… the Computer.” Looking up at the top of the center cylindrical she looked down at the base cylinder and started over to it.
“ Okay let's… lets just take a moment here .”
On the face of the computer was a panel… with an emblem of some kind emblazoned on it.
The emblem was yellow, a bold dot surrounded by a bold circle followed by another bold circle surrounding the first with four lines branching off the last circle, one narrow line at the top and the three more bolder lines adjacent to each other at the bottom.
Looking at the symbol gave Ruby a strange feeling… not like the one she had been feeling. This one was almost… taunting.
”Okay… this is it.” Ruby blew out a breath, trying to calm her nerves. Reaching out she pressed one of the buttons just to the left of the panel, causing the panel to open with a soft woosh.
Just behind the panel was the switch to the computer, a simple lever. It’s kinda funny. Something so complicated, activated by something so simple.
Reaching out she limply grasped the left and held her arm there, hesitating while the voice in her head continued to scream at her.
“ Listen to yourself for once! This is a huge mistake! ”
“I have been listening to myself… I’ve been telling myself that I’m mature… brave… a genius… but I’m not.”
“ Oh don’t get all metaphorical now! ”
“This place proves… proves that I’m not… I’m childish…”
“ Really? Are we really doing this? ”
“I’m scared…”
“ I guess so… ”
“And I have no clue about anything outside of my own little bubble.” Ruby felt her grip on the lever tighten.
“ Just… Just get it over with. ”
“I really, really , REALLY hope I’m not going to regret this later.” Ruby pinched her eyes shut, body tensing up, as she held her position for just a breath.
Then she pushed the lever down, the switch clicking into place and the computer roaring to life, literally.
Ruby’s eyes snapped open as she let go of the lever and backed away, fear slowly crawling its way to the front of her mind.
The computer lights grew ablaze, the fans whirles to life, and the cold room quickly grew warmer as the air blew around.
For a brief moment Ruby couldn’t see or hear anything, blinded by the computers radiating light and deafened by the loud fans and her own startled cries.
Then the lights dimmed and the room quieted.
Ruby backed away, startled a little by the sudden chaos caused by activating the computer. But was stunned to see that the room, other than the sudden rise in temperature and the soft hum of the computer, was completely normal now.
“Ha… Ha… Hahaha, I didn’t blow up… that’s- that’s good.” She nervously laughed as she turned back towards the lift. With the computer now on she was eager to see what it could do and what it was built for.
Once back on the lift Ruby instantly pressed the button to take her back up. Turning around to face the computer again she paused as time seemed to slow . She was tunnel visioned on the computer, the panel to access the computers lever had closed sometime after activation and returning to the lift. On that panel was that emblem… just staring at her.
Then the doors shut abruptly, snapping Ruby from her trance.
Ruby blinked rapidly, shaking the strange sensation off of her. It was just her imagination… yeah… she was just on edge from all the excitement.
The ride up felt like it was dragging on. Though this time it wasn’t just because she had to pass another floor to get to the one she wanted to be on. But instead of just passing the floor it stopped at the floor with the pillars.
“Come on!” Ruby groaned frustrated, as she waited for the door to open. She wasn’t going to waste more time on this stupid lift, she would just take the ladder up to the lab.
Upon entering the room with the pillars, she was a little disappointed to see that not much had changed. The room was still dimly lit and the pillars weren’t making any new sounds. She did see a few lights that she didn’t remember seeing before, so that was a good sign she guessed.
Racing for the ladder up she started climbing. “I really need to figure that stupid lift out!” She ranted as she climbed.
Reaching the top she pushed the latch up and pulled herself up and onto the lab floor. Kneeling next to the latch she closed it behind her and stood up to look at the room.
The room had changed greatly. The large machinery that was hanging from the supports had extended out, lowering down closer to the chair which had unfolded itself allowing someone to sit and access the monitors.
“Oh! Yesss!” Ruby cheered, rushing over to the chair and sitting down in it. Looking down at the keyboard she searched for and found the power button at the top corner and pressed it causing the center screen to flicker a sec and then numbers and words started scrolling across the screen.
Then it stopped and she was greeted with proper words she could read.
“Huh? What's this.” She whispered as she leaned in to get a better look.
“Upsilon-81… Remnant Branch… Huh.” She read aloud…
“ Upsilon… Remnant… What? ” She thought looking over the rest of the text. The rest of the text was just a rundown of all the equipment connected to the computer. The four monitors she found herself in front of were easy enough to spot,
“There’s a mic headset for this?” Ruby leaned back and started looking around for this headset. The keyboard didn’t have one sitting out on it when she got here, she couldn’t see one hanging from the back or sides of the screens.
“Hmm?” Ruby puzzled to herself, turning her attention back to the screen and continued to examine the list of equipment.
“Scanographe A, B, and C…” Ruby whispered aloud. This was just getting even more confusing.
“Scanographe… where… Oh! Those pillars I saw! Those must be the Scanographes or whatever.” She realized, genuinely excited to learn what those large things were called.
“So if those three are the scanners then this one, the holomount must be this thing here.” Ruby rationalized as she looked from the computer to the bowl shaped machine to her left.
It hadn't changed all that much, the only change was the ends of the jutting post were now bright white.
“This is so exciting!” Ruby giddily breathed, turning back to the computer she saw that even the chair she sat in was connected to this freaking computer!
“No way? What?” Turning her attention back to the chair she looked it over. By the headrest on either side were small slits, for what she wasn’t sure. To her right side were buttons that she didn’t dare press yet and to her left was a single button.
Though with this button it was obvious what it did. Pressing it revealed the obvious panel that was hidden on the side, opening it to reveal the missing headset. Though it was really more of an ear piece.
“So that's where it was!” Ruby cheered, grabbing it and placing the ear piece around her left ear.
She moved it around till it sat comfortably with the mic kept away from pressing up against her face.
This whole setup was super intricate. The headset connected to the chair, which was connected to the computer which she could control both with the keyboard, but not just control a simple chair or headset but scanners as well! Okay! Slow down. She hadn’t even logged in yet!
Turning her attention back to the screen she looked at the only thing she could do on screen currently.
“Interesting… No password required, not even some kind of safeguard. It’s like whoever built this wasn’t expecting anyone else to use this other than themselves.” She muttered to herself, already reaching for the keyboard.
Hitting the ctrl tab she gained access to the prompt and typed her name.
R. U. B. Y.
And with a click of the enter key the screen flickered again. With a white bar scrolling across the prompt she just entered her name in, flashing multiple times causing the display to be replaced with the words initializing layout across the screen.
Ruby’s eyes wide with joy as she waited with eager breath to finally get to see what this was all about.
The screen loaded, noise playing through the headpiece she wore, lines and boxes appearing along the edges of the screen before completely going dark.
Then three huge letters took up the center of the screen.
S-D-C
The letters, contrasting bright white with the black background, were instantly burned into her mind.
“ Definitely gonna be searching them up. ” She thought as her attention was taken up again as more words filled the screen.
“Huh… uh what?”
Looking down at the bottom she found her explanation.
Installing native programs…(33/58)
The words that were flying up the screen were all the programs that were installed on the computer.
Ruby looked over them all. Not really reading them, just looking over them.
Reaching the end of the list Ruby paused as the last one stood out to her but before she could put any more thought to it the screen went black.
Only to quickly be replaced with a deep blue. Ruby frantically looked around the screen as more words started scrolling down the top left, and menus started popping up around..
She watched as smaller tabs popped up here and there before instantly being obscured by a more massive tab. When the tab opened she was greeted by a green background with zeros scrolling up and down it.
Then just as quickly as the tabbed originally opened, an image of a girl took over the tab.
The model was very detailed, her features were pretty and gentle, gorgeous flowing white hair tied up in an off center ponytail held up by some kind of crown and donned in an elegant light-blue dress and bolero with red lined on the inside.
“Woah…” Ruby said in awe. “Wait… no… Don’t tell me all this is some kind of stupid game?” Ruby groaned, suddenly disappointed. All this… for a video game… great.
The model, which seemed to have been asleep, blinked its eyes open rapidly before her face morphed into one of confusion and went through it pre-programed animations like examining herself and looking around.
“Great…” Ruby sighed, falling back in the chair. “All this stress and soul searching for a stupid computer game.”
Ruby just shook her head in disbelief.
“Umm… Excuse me?” A soft and angelic voice called out.
Ruby suddenly felt her soul leave her body as fear and panic took hold of her. Pulling her legs up to her chest she cowered in the chair as she started to shriek out an apology.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to barge in! I was just so curious and thought this place was sooo cool and I-” Ruby felt tears starting to sting her eyes as she looked up to see an extremely angry person. Only to stop mid apology when she saw there was nobody in the room with her… she was the only one in the room.
“Okay… that's spooky.” Ruby muttered, now very much unnerved.
“What’s going on? Where am I?” It was that gentle voice again sounding concerned, though this time realized that the voice could only be heard in her left ear!
“Oh!” Ruby gasped, raising a hand to grab at the earpiece as she started to realize what was going on. Turning back to the screen she was greeted with a much more worried, no scared, looking character model.
The girl looked like she was looking directly at Ruby, her light blue eyes almost pleading with her.
Ruby was shocked at just how pretty the model was. Soft round features, an impossibly pale near perfect complexion. The only flaw was a scar running from just above her left eyebrow down over her eye and stopping on the curve of her cheek, though Ruby felt the scar just added a layer of beauty to the model. Ruby felt her eyes linger on the scar for a moment before turning back to its eyes.
“Wow… your eyes…” Ruby whispered, the model’s eyes seemingly widening at Ruby’s absent minded words. “They’re… so pretty.” Staring at the pair with awe.
“Excuse me?!” The once gentle voice was now harsh and angry. “Are you done ogling me you dolt?!”
It was only now that Ruby realized that the pretty eyes she had just been ogling were now glaring at her!
Ruby pulled back in horror and stared at the character model with a mixture of disbelief and astonishment.
“You… You… You…” Ruby sputtered.
“Would you speak like a normal functioning human being?!” The voice snapped.
Ruby just looked at the virtual girl in front of her. This gorgeous, obviously virtual, and very angry girl.
There was a pause.
A long pause.
A very long pause.
A very long… awkward pause.
“Hello?!” The virtual girl waved a hand at her, clearly annoyed by Ruby’s sudden lack of processing and functioning.
“Great! Hello?! Please tell me there’s someone out there who isn’t a useless child?!” The virtual girl desperately called, uselessly trying to peer around Ruby.
“You… spoke… to me.” Ruby finally managed out.
This seemed to stop the virtual girl for a moment before she regained herself. “ Of course I spoke to you! You’re the only other person here!” She angrily shouted back.
Ruby was absolutely stunned, staring wide eyed open mouth at the virtual girl.
The virtual girl suddenly seems to realize something as the anger turns to confusion and the confusion turns to fear.
“Who… Who are you?” The girl asked, her face distorted by a look of fear and concern. “Wh-what’s going on? Where am I?” She asked, though Ruby wasn’t listening anymore.
Ruby just continued to stare at the girl, but not because she was easy to look at… but because Ruby’s whole world had just shifted.
The girl’s shoulders slumped as her lower jaw started to tremble as she stared in disbelief as she struggled to say something.
“What the fuck.” Ruby finally blurted.