Ruby: The Path Ends

Chapter Four

     The next morning she was barely awake before chaos exploded around her. Somewhere in the flurry of activity Yang showed up and let her know all was forgiven then pitched in to help her move. Dove, Mezza and Rose all helped, too. Ruby hadn't thought she had much but she had accumulated two boxes of clothes, three boxes of books and an assortment of other little things Yang had given her so it did take all of them to carry her stuff to the new apartment. At least they made it in one trip.

     Ruby's new apartment  was on a floor that once housed offices for upper-management. There was a spacious lounge area with thirty large offices that had been converted into small apartments. Yang informed her there were three similar floors and her apartment was located two floors down in what used to be chemistry labs.

     Hers was one of the smaller rooms but Ruby loved it. It was better than that pristine medical room. Hers had simple gray carpet and warm beige walls with a few beautiful paintings. Dove explained that three of the residents on this floor were artists - each one had been created by them. She loved the beautiful scenes and decided to track down the artists and thank them. The bed was no bigger than her old hospital bed but it didn't have wheels and a call button attached so she was happy. There was even a bookshelf bolted to one wall!

     "There's a shared kitchen they keep fairly well stocked down the hall." Dove said as he helped her fill the bookshelf. "There are a few people on this floor who love to cook so you probably won't have to deal with that unless you want to. It'd be a good idea to help clean up, though. They consider that ample payment for them doing the majority of the work."

     "Are you guys on this floor, too?" Ruby perked up.

     "Yeah, other side of the main room." Mezza smiled. "We're in room 19."

     "At least I know a few people here." She smiled, relaxing.

     "Now we can play all the time!" Rose cheered, tackling Ruby.

     "You bet!" She laughed.

     By the time dinner was served she had met half the people on the floor and almost felt at home. Quite a few of them gave her that unnerving 'you're a hero!' look but many were nice and just treated her like a normal person. The cooks were happy to show off their skills with some fantastic dishes. It wasn't a huge feast, food was still somewhat rationed, but they showed what they could do within their restrictions.

     The next week she spent taking on challenges and establishing herself within the community. She pushed hard to earn the reputation she had been given and she had to push because they had built her up pretty high.

     Book checked in regularly to offer encouragement and advice but aside from her team he was the only one who really seemed interested in being her friend. Most people were nice but she really did feel like she was standing on a pedestal and they wouldn't let her get down. It didn't help with her feelings of isolation.

     Yang was almost bi-polar, swinging from her old cheerful self to a snarling beast depending on whether it was almost time for another strike against Ozpin or not. If she wasn't out leading the charge, she was in a bad mood. Ruby found out that if she and Rose made faces at her, it would cheer her up for a little while, though.

     Life almost seemed to fall into a comfortable pattern for a couple of weeks as Jaune planned the next attack. He had Ruby out front with Yang - they were going to try to knock out one of the towers Ozpin used to track and spy on people. Yang wanted to go after some of his pet Grimm as well but Jaune insisted they keep it simple and fast... so she was in a bad mood. Nothing new there.