Ruby: The Path Ends

Chapter Six

     She woke with a start, still hearing those terrible thoughts, still feeling blood on her hands.... but she was in her apartment, curled up in the corner and it was very hard to breathe. She tried to take slow, deep breaths but no amount of willpower seemed enough to stop the quick, shallow gasps. She wiped at the tears blurring her vision with trembling hands.

     It felt like hours before she finally calmed down and was able to breathe again. A dream? Again? Was this a dream or was she finally awake?

     Once the fear was under control she forced her mind to focus on happy thoughts, good memories... to not think about how hard 'Torchwick's men' had fought back, how many ran and were cut down anyway. She shuddered and pulled out her scroll to send a message to Book... but that smile haunted her. The scroll ended up across the room.

     There was no one she could talk to... They would tell her to talk to Book and what if it wasn't just a dream? What if her subconscious had picked up on the truth? He had studied to be a therapist and that meant Ozpin would have had the ability to get his information, to convince or blackmail him to be a spy. What if he was just waiting for the right moment to betray the resistance? He had been right, though. No one would listen to her word over his if it came to that...

     She felt lost and alone, despair dragged her back down into depression and she decided to do nothing. She couldn't leave, she couldn't stay, she couldn't talk to anyone... She couldn't even tell if she was awake.

     Ruby had no idea how long she sat there in the corner feeling like a ghost before a soft tapping at the door brought her attention back to the apartment. She was going to ignore it until she heard the soft voice on the other side. "Miss Rubyrose? Are you there? Want to play?"

     After a chaotic moment of internal struggle, she fought off the lethargy enough to answer their door. Rose's smile vanished to be replaced with fearful concern. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

     "I just had a really bad dream." Ruby closed the door once Rose stepped in and sat heavily, pulling the girl into a hug.

     "Mommy says bad dreams aren't real and we shouldn't let them scare us after we wake up." She said, hugging her back. "They can't hurt you now."

     Ruby nodded and said nothing since the last thing she wanted was to tell her that some dreams could hurt long after waking.

     "Was a monster chasing you?" She asked, trying to figure out what had upset her so badly.

     "No... I became the monster." Ruby answered quietly.

     "Just like you did last time?"

     She nodded.

     "Then it won't stop." Rose said decisively. The little girl twisted in Ruby's grip then there was a sharp jab and she couldn't breathe, the awareness of pain quickly followed the shock wearing off as Rose stepped away with a bloody knife in hand. "You told me I had to stop you."

     Ruby nodded, not sure whether to be upset or grateful. She forced a smile and let herself fall back, embracing the darkness that rose to meet her.

     "Ruby!" Yang yelled, shaking her awake.

     She pulled away, looking around her apartment. It was no longer comforting to see this room, to see Yang.

     "What's going on? I could hear you screaming from down the hall!" She looked hurt when Ruby scooted away. "Your nightmares are getting worse, then? You really should talk to Book but right now we need you. Ozpin's got a lot of people prowling the area, I think they've narrowed down our possible locations and we may have to deal with them soon."

     "Why were you in the hall?" Ruby demanded.

     "What?" Yang stared at her blankly. "Didn't you hear what I just said? Crisis time!"

     "Why were you on this floor?" She pushed, not willing to let it go. "You don't come here often, you send me a message to come to your room."

     "Catching on fast, aren't you?" Yang grinned as her flesh began to melt away to leave only a skeleton.

     Ruby woke again, back in the medical labs with the too-bright lights making the generic room bleak and unwelcoming. Was this real? Another dream?

     Time seemed to drag by but eventually Dr. Cansado dragged himself in, took a long drink of coffee and sat beside her. "Good to see you awake, Ms. Rose. You've been unconscious for almost a week now."

     "Probably." She said, too tired to be scared anymore. It wouldn't end... she was trapped in a nightmare whether she was asleep or not. It just didn't matter.

     "Your friends have been worried but I told them it would be best not to crowd you." He said, sipping his coffee. "Are you alright?"

     "Aren't you scared I'll snap? Attack you?" She asked.

     "Well, Ms. Schnee seems certain of that being the result of your relapse into a coma but I doubt it. It just isn't in your nature."

     "Do I have a nature anymore?" Ruby didn't really expect an answer, she was thinking out loud more than encouraging conversation. "Ozpin messed with my head and now I'm not always me... so am I ever me?"

     "Everyone wonders much the same thing." He yawned. "I certainly do. Who am I really? What is reality when reality ceases to follow the rules you know? Does anything ever really matter? Should we keep living in this oversized cage when our families and friends are comfortable and happy up above us? Do you realize it's been over seven years since I saw the sun, Ms. Rose?"

     "This is another dream." She sighed, closing her eyes. "You never came to see me here yourself and I've never heard you talk like that."

     "Does that really change anything?" He asked, standing. "Reality is a dream, Ms. Rose. And you have only one way to improve your life. This is the nightmare realm but escape to better dreams is simple. Freedom is easily within your reach. I'll give you some time to think about that."

     He closed the door behind him and she heard the lock clunk into place. Fight and live through more nightmares or surrender and pretend she had a normal life. She had already lost any chance of winning the war - that happened before there even was a war. Even now it was nothing more than a minor skirmish to Ozpin.

     Did it really matter?

     She ate six meals half-heartedly and without tasting them before anyone else came to visit. She was half asleep and trying to keep her mind empty, trying not to think about what Dr. Cansado had said, when the door opened and Cardin walked in.

     He gave her his usual arrogant smile and dropped into the chair next to her bed. "You still moping in here, kid?"

     "You're dead." She informed him before closing her eyes.

     "Nah, not here. You're obsessing over all the bad aspects to this situation. C'mon, let's get drunk and kill some Grimm. It'll be fun, just like it used to be but without having to worry about actually dying."

     "You're not real." She said sharply.

     "Nothing is real anymore. Once you accept that we can make the best of that."

He had a point. Ozpin had her trapped in this coma and wasn't likely to let her out of it. That probably meant he had succeeded. Maybe Book really was working with him, maybe someone else let him in and he did this to keep her from fighting back. What if the others were in the same situation?

     What if she died and this was the afterlife?

     Frustrated tears welled up again and Cardin moved to sit on the bed beside her, wrapping her in a hug. "Come on, you don't have to suffer like this. You've been dealing with it for so long. Think about yourself for once, will you? Couldn't you have learned that one thing from me? Sometimes you just have to be selfish for your own good. Keep this up and all you'll do is drive yourself insane. Let's go have some fun."

     This just made her cry harder as she clung to the partner she had failed. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was time to be selfish.