Just a dream?
There was so much of it.
So much.
Red.
Red everywhere. The crimson leaves of Forever Fall continued to fall, swiftly, peacefully. But this moment was nothing but peaceful.
‘How could this be happening? This isn’t right, it shouldn’t be happening.’
The forest was a blur as she moved through the mass of red trees faster than ever before. Her surroundings being stretched as she increased her speed. She was moving so fast, maybe too fast as her cape caught on a pointed branch which seemed to have grown for the sole purpose of slowing her down. Coming to a screeching halt so as to not tear her precious cape, she hastily loosened it, panting as she did so. She had to move, had to reach her. Giving up hope on her cape she ripped the buckles off her neck and flashed away as soon as she was free form her cape. A cloud of roses left behind floated gently around the cape as it fluttered softly on the branch.
‘This can’t be happening, no it can’t! She’s too strong for this, I know she is!’
So many thoughts ran through her mind as she flew through the woods, her beloved cape left behind for the first time in a very long time. She paused to gain her bearings. Where was she now? Oh no, had she drifted off course? Swinging around frantically, her head snapped up as there was a loud crack and a flock of birds escaped the tree line just ahead. As soon as she spotted the birds she was gone again, another cloud of roses, but this time a little less.
‘I don’t understand! This can’t actually be happening. She promised me she would never leave!’
Denial was all she felt, but something deep within her had the smallest hint of doubt. A small dark black dot, that was threatening to grow and flood through her and consume her. But she furiously pushed it down, ‘NO! Everything is fine and even if it isn’t I’ll make it in time!’
‘She’s the one I love most, I would never ever, let anything happen to her!’
Actions speak louder than words. Another boom followed by a bone chilling shriek. Her blurred world came to another halt as she paused to listen to the noise. Was it human or something else? It sounded too horrible to be a human, but what about a human in pain? That last thought shot her back into action, shooting off for the third and final time in the direction of the noise. Only a few lowly pedals left behind to hopelessly drift to the floor, defeated by the world, cursed to forever fall.
‘I can’t accept it. I do not! How can I live without her.’
She blasted into a clearing and came to a stop, kicking up dirt and fallen crimson leaves as she dug her heels into the ground. She quickly took in her surroundings. No enemies, nothing just- Oh no.
Forever Fall was so red, just like her cape. Crimson, ruby, maroon carmine all words used to describe the serene land. But Ruby only had one word on her mind. Blood.
That’s all she saw. All she could see as she looked at the person she so hopelessly tried to save, was deep dark blood. She fell to her knees, ‘No’. All her energy, all that power, gone in an instant. ‘How can I live without her.’ She repeated. She weakly crawled her way to the figure, lying peacefully, quietly. She seemed somehow happy, but Ruby new it was all a cruel lie fabricated by fate. Her lips trembled as her hands aimlessly floated around that face that she so loved. Not sure what to do, not sure how to act, how to feel, Ruby wept.
Soft, quite, whimpers that barely made it past her lips. Tears gently slid down her cheeks and onto the body in front of her. The clear, pure droplets instantly became poisoned with that crimson, the crimson that belonged to the woman she believed would never have left her. Ruby fell onto the woman’s stomach, her sobs becoming more rapid and jagged, her tears flowing more freely. Her vision became blurred and all she could see as she stared at the face that belonged to the one person that meant her life, was red. So much red. I cruel irony filled her heart and mind.
It was red like ros-
“Ruby!”
****
Ruby’s eyes shot open as she heard her name called. She became very alarmed at the persons distressed tone, and also the fact that she felt very weightless. That was odd, what did that mean? She felt as if she was falling, but why would she be fallin- She was falling!
But why was she falling, what could have happened to her- “Oof!” Ruby’s train of thought was abruptly cut short as she hit the floor with a thud, causing their room to shudder violently. A coffee cup rattled and a book tipped over on one of Blake’s book shelves.
Weiss burst out of her slumber, glyph circling her palm, held in front of her like weapon, adding a soft glow to the otherwise dark room. Blake was sitting up on her bed, scratching her head, looking all very, uninterested yet concerned at the same time. Yang was already next to her sister, being the one who called her name, she knelt by Ruby’s side and gently turned her over.
“Ruby are you okay?” she asked, concern flooding her tone.
Ruby groaned and flopped onto her back, rubbed her face and looked at her sister, who’s lilac eyes practically were bleeding with worry and love. She glanced at Weiss and received a stark contrast to her lovely sister. Weiss was sporting a very annoyed, disappointed, irritated and angry expression. Weiss was amazing like that, she was the only one, besides maybe Blake, who could express so many negative emotions at the same time.
Averting her gaze from the ice queen, in fear of frost bite, Ruby returned her attention to her sister. Rubbing the growing lump on her head, she lazily sat up, “Ergh. What happened?”
“You were mumbling something in your sleep and then you randomly rolled of your
bed. I woke up a tinsy bit too late to catch you.” Yang explained, feeling a
little guilt for lack of sleep awareness. Then again her snoring probably
hindered her hearing, a lot.
“I didn’t” Blake stated nonchalantly, yawning and stretching, expressing her very cat like characteristics.
“What do you mean?” Yang asked as she helped Ruby up.
“Your mumbling woke me up a while ago” She explained, wiggling her cat ears to further explain herself.
“You didn’t think to do anything about it?” Ruby asked a little hurt that her teammate didn’t come to her rescue, “but what about ladybug?!” She exclaimed arms out in an overly dramatic expression.
“It’s one in the morning, that’s out of my operating hours” Blake responding, still very casual while getting back under her sheets. “Besides I didn’t expect you to roll out of bed.”
“Well I think you deserve it” Weiss added, glyph gone, arms folded.
“Weiss it’s one in the morning, don’t you think it’s a bit early for that?” Yang asked, referring to her folded arms and overall attitude.
“Early for what?” she replied, sharply tilting her head to one side, her white hair following suite, no longer bound by her usual pony tail. Ruby secretly loved it when she let her hair down at night, she thought it looked beautiful as it cascading down to her lower back, like a snowy white waterfall. Ruby always loved the snow.
“What was I saying Blake?” she asked, coming back to the present.
Blake opened one eye, having decided to go back to sleep she was a little annoyed by the interruption. Although she knew she wouldn’t be falling asleep before the rest of them, but she did hope she fell asleep before Yang, nothing can fall asleep when she’s snoring like an Ursa.
She suspiciously eyed Weiss and Yang before sighing a somewhat exasperated sigh and replied, “I’m not sure, couldn’t make out any words properly” Yang and Weiss exchanged glances, which flew right over Ruby’s innocent head, as she nodded thoughtfully. “Now, a cat needs her beauty sleep. Goodnight” Blake stated, a smirk reaching her lips and her joke, but she hid it quickly as she turned onto her side to face the wall.
Yang looked to her partner and chuckled softly at Blake’s increasingly sly humour before climbing up onto her bed. “Goodnight” she called, flinging her sheets over herself, which seemed completely redundant to Weiss as she always found the sisters with their sheets haphazardly thrown about. Looking back to her partner, she scoffed all to Weiss like and said, “It was probably about cookies and sugar”.
Ruby paused as she went to jump up into bed and looked at her partner and tilted her head to one side, “Weiss when was the last time you had a dream?” she asked very childlike. Weiss was taken aback, she recoiled a little with her mouth agape slightly offended by the question.
“Excuse me! What are you implying?!” she questioned.
“Uh oh” Yang mumbled from her bed, Blake replied with a ‘humph’ and Ruby, realising she made a mistake, disappeared behind the curtains that held her bed up. “Goodnight Weiss!” she called back quickly.
“Wha-“ Weiss shook her head, her mind still processing the child’s question. Decided she couldn’t care less, she scoffed loudly and sharply got back into her bed, “Tsk! How rude!” she said to the underside of Ruby’s bed.
Then all was quiet, Blake had probably fallen asleep already, Yang wasn’t snoring so she hadn’t reached that point yet and neither had Ruby. There was soft shuffling from above Weiss and she expectantly, yet slightly irritated, opened her eyes.
“Sorry Weiss” Ruby whispered softly, her silver eye visible through the gap between the wall and her bed. Weiss looked at her partners’ eyes, a stern expression on her face, which quickly softened at Ruby’s sincere soft little voice. Irritated with her loss of composure at the sight of her partners clearly guilty heart, she threw her head to the side, breaking eye contact and said proudly,
“Oh don’t be ridiculous. I’m fine” Ruby lingered a little, causing Weiss to open one eye a fraction to peer at her and then Ruby was satisfied,
“Ok then” she replied, still a little saddened, “Goodnight Weiss” she said, a little more sprightly. Weiss sighed as she turned her head back up,
“Goodnight you dunce” she said softly, turning onto her stomach and nuzzling into her pillow. She practically felt Ruby’s beaming smile.
