The Knights of Grimm - Act 3 - Shattered Memory

Chapter 6 - Trouble in Vacuo

Ruby

The sun has set behind the horizon, the Fractured Moon floats above them in the sky, piece by piece, slowly falling apart over the years. Everyone is asleep in their rooms, Nora with Ren, her head nuzzled up to him. Kassius and Yang asleep together, his arm round her as she sleeps against his bare chest. Neptune has his arm round Weiss as she sleeps peacefully with him and Blake sleeps up against Sun. Ruby has her head rested beside Oscar in the bed that they share, her eye closed and he is asleep as well, her hand holding onto his indefinitely.

Her sleep is so peaceful...for a while.

For in her eyes, she sees something else entirely than the others. The darkness of her sleep lights up with a deep red sky that forms above her, the Fractured Moon has become completely shattered, just rocks orbiting the planet instead. She feels a cold chill against her body and she looks around, in her clothes as she stands up and observes the charred trees that rise up from the shadowy soil that surrounds her. She feels the soil beneath her boot and it is soft, like snow, but has no colour to it at all. She walks through the landscape as she hears the ghostly voices of those who have died in her mind. "Ruby..." Scarlet David whispers in the background and she gasps, turning around when she thought she heard or felt him behind her. She steps backwards, realising that her mind has been drawn to the mysterious Charred Forest once more...

Whatever this place really is...

She moves her fingers through her long delicate black and red hair that falls down her shoulders, not tied up like she normally has it as it goes down her left shoulder most of the time. She keeps on walking through the Domain, trying to find the trigger to end this nightmare, there always has been before, but that was always Pyrrha...now there is no Pyrrha or Penny in this dream. She keeps on looking around when the howl of the Nuckelavee still echoes throughout her mind and she jumps when she hears it and sees the monster in the distance as it kicks its powerful legs in the air. The red eyes glaring at her then it gallops away into the treeline, vanishing into thin air.

"Tear down your false idols!" The ghostly voice of Doctor Arthur Watts roars in the distance, hearing the bellow of a crowd and the crackles of flames. Trees in the distance are ablaze and she staggers when an explosion makes the ground tremor, almost like an earthquake. The effects of his words still affect the world to this day, the statements that he made; have truly shaken people's trust in the governments of the four kingdoms.

"You wanna be a hero? Then play the part and die like every other huntsman in history!" The voice of Torchwick yells faintly and she hears the screeches of Griffins in the distance, but there are none in the sky. There is nothing at all, just ghostly shadows that watch her ever movement, walking with her all the while as she moves. She looks away from the Shadow Men that follow her and she tries to block their voices out from her head, walking faster through the domain.

"Where do you think you're going, my little flower?" The mad voice of Tyrian whispers behind her and she screams with fear, spinning round and expecting to see him there...

...but nothing.

Nothing at all, even in death he still scares her to this day. Her hands tremble as she walks backwards, looking around at everything that surrounds her and she holds her arm still with her other one.

She then turns round and her heart nearly stops when three men stand in front of her with angered looks in their eyes. Watts on the left, Torchwick on the right, and Tyrian in the middle. All of their eyes glow the same colour – red – and they look fierce with rage. And they speak in unison as well when they glare at her. "The Canvas Will Be Wiped Clean." They all speak, with a voice that is unfamiliar to Ruby but familiar to others, one that passes through her like a bullet.