The Wolf, The Lion, and The Dragon - (Vol.9)

Ch.1 A Place of Particular Concern

3rd Pov

Narrator: "This is the story of a girl, who had a lot of problems..."

The screen remained black, and sounds of an explosion were muted before eyes blink to Ruby's point of view of what happened in the Evacuation Central Location. Team RWBY, LADR, Owen, Razor and Penny turned to find an explosion caused by Cinder. Ruby panicked as the evacuees ran in fear before quickly blinking, transitioning in black.

Yang: "Ruby!"

The scene transitioned to Neo attempting to attack Ruby, but she was tackled out of the way by Yang, who took the brunt of Neo's slash and broke her Aura. Ruby then constantly blinked in a panic as she watched Yang being thrown backwards, tumbling bodily over the platform. Later, Ruby helplessly tried to reach Crescent Rose, but watched it slide over the edge and fell into the abyss. Later, Ruby was clinging onto Neo's ankle as Cinder glared down at them. Ruby's Silver Eyes glowed faintly.

Cinder: "And you... should have never been born..."

Cinder used the Staff to smash Neo's hand, causing her to lose her grip and fall. Ruby started to fall with her, and the glow from her eyes disappeared. After Ruby fell down, Blake held Ruby while swinging Gambol Shroud to back up to the platform, but its ribbon got burned off by Cinder. Ruby helplessly watched Blake fall before disappearing into the abyss.

Ruby opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by floating red balls. She looked down at her hand coated by one of them before it began floating from her hand. Ruby then saw Neo delivering a punch at her. Ruby tried to defend herself as she grabbed Neo by both of her hands. Neo tried to grab Ruby by the neck but Ruby pushed Neo's hand away from her. Neo
used her Semblance to transform into Oscar, and roughly pulled her hands away from Ruby. Neo glared as she transformed into Yang as Ruby defended herself. Neo punched away Ruby's hands and grabbed them, again transforming into Penny. Ruby struggled as Neo's arm locked her, strangling her. Ruby almost lost her breath but she broke free from Neo by kicking her
legs backwards. Ruby tumbled over and watched Neo in the distance as they both fell through the clouds. Out of focus shore, beach, trees and cliff stretched into the distance...

Penny: "Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!"

Ruby bolted upwards, panting moments before surveying the area. Large conch shells and six-armed starfish intermittently dotted a sand-coloured beach that seemed to stretch for miles in either direction. In the distance, Ruby saw two very intact moons seemingly orbiting each other as they slowly orbit. wherever she was. Ruby stood up and wrung out the water from her cloak. Directly in front of her, sat a tropical albeit equally strange forest. The palm trees form odd bulbous shapes, some wrapped around each other while others appeared to be two or three trees stacked together: The tree in the centre, however, was enormous towering over the distance. It stood so tall that only the bottom section of its canopy was visible as the rest. A
flock of large birds burst out from the top of the forest, drawing Ruby's attention to a not-quite-as-distant cliff edge on the other side of the forest. Ruby stared at the giant tree and walked towards the forest.

As Ruby continued to progress through the forest, she squeezed through a group of trees into a clearing. An oddly-coloured bird screamed as she entered the clearing. Ruby saw the giant tree again in the distance, before proceeding forward and squeezing through another group of trees. In an odd sense of deja vu, Ruby squeezed into the same clearing again, confusing
her. The bird from before screamed again and started to babble nonsense. Ruby looked up at the giant tree again, realizing she was not getting any closer. Ruby proceeded forward again, passing by a mouse sleeping on a large seashell. She squeezed through the same trees again, and the bird flew away this time. Ruby grunted in frustration as she walked forward again.