WHO: Weiss Schnee & Ruby Rose. WHAT: Stuck in the Upside Down. WHEN: Monday. WHERE: The Upside Down. WARNINGS: A bit of violence. STATUS: Closed | Completed gdoc.
Weiss had stayed up late the previous night, keeping up her training with Myrtenaster. While there wasn't a reason to use her weapon as often these days, she figured it was good to keep in shape. After she was done, she headed home and was so tired that instead of heading to bed, she ended up falling asleep on the couch with her sword in her hand. When she woke up the next morning, she opened her eyes and blinked. She expected the sun to shine through the window. Instead there was no sun and not only that, but the place was covered in vines.
There were too many vines but luckily, somehow, Myrtenaster was still in her hand. She cut through the vines and checked around the house, but no one was around. She also couldn't connect to the network but she did find a flashlight, which she took. She then made her way out of the house. Not only was it just her house but the entire town was different.
She walked down the street, keeping her eyes and ears on alert just in case. She ended up at the gelato shop, which was covered in vines as well. She stared at it, wondering what was going on, when she suddenly heard a noise. She turned around, her hand on her weapon in case she needed it.
Okay, Ruby might have made it a habit of falling asleep with Crescent Rose in hand since waking up with Neo as a bunkmate on the cruise. She didn’t want to end up in a situation where the young woman could ever get the jump on her again. While she would never admit it to anyone, she dealt with constant nightmares since Neo nearly killed her that time in the park. That plus the cruise was enough to make Ruby never want her weapon far from her grasp.
Last night, Ruby rolled over and when she woke up, the dark haired woman found herself on the floor. Seeing as this happened often, she wasn’t too shocked, but what she woke up to? It was definitely a surprise and not a good one. All around her was her room…except it wasn’t her room. It was covered in vines and some of them were moving. A strange beastly cry shattered the silence and Ruby gripped her weapon tight. What the hell was going on?
Climbing to her feet, Ruby rushed from the room, scanning the area that was familiar and yet not. There was no sign of Qrow. Of anyone. Slipping from her house, she again found herself alone and the brunette swallowed. What the hell was going on? Was this another Madison Valley trick?
Using a bit of her speed, Ruby blurred through the streets, leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake. Thankfully, it didn’t take her long to catch sight of a familiar figure. It was Weiss! Ruby came to a halt and covered the distance at normal speed. Weiss had her weapon drawn and given their creepy environment? Ruby couldn’t blame her.
“Weiss, it’s me,” Ruby said. Her eyes skimmed over her friend, but it didn’t look like Weiss was injured. Thankfully.
“Are you okay?”
It had been awhile since Weiss had to fight anyone or anything. She never even signed up for fight night, although she did try to get some training in as much as she could, either alone or with Qrow. But if she had to fight, she would. She just hoped she wasn't too rusty or anything.
The noise had certainly startled her and she was on guard. But once she saw rose petals, the telltale sign of Ruby's Semblance, she relaxed a little, her grip on Myrtenaster loosening just a little. Sure enough, she saw her best friend appear. "I'm fine. Just very confused," she admitted. She didn't like not knowing what was going on.
"And you? Are you doing alright?"
When she saw her friend’s grip loosen slightly around her weapon, Ruby relaxed and nodded. “You and me both,” Ruby replied. She had no idea how she’d arrived wherever the hell this was. It looked like Madison Valley, but it clearly wasn’t. It was like a darker version of the town she’d spent the last three years in.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just curious as to what this place is. It looks like Madison Valley, but it clearly isn’t.” Plus, Ruby had no idea if anyone else was here. She didn’t like to think of any of their friends waking up in this place. Not that they couldn’t handle themselves, but it was just creepy.
“Have you come across anyone else?”
"Yes. It kind of reminds me of that darker Madison Valley a couple years ago." Not that Weiss hadn't been to that place, but from the stories she heard on the network, it was pretty bad. This right now still reminded her of it - it was still Madison Valley but a darker but different version of it.
She shook her head. "No. Strangely enough, I woke up in the house alone. Fred wasn't there and neither were Ron or George." She had no idea where they could be but if she had to guess, they were still in the normal Madison Valley and only she had somehow ended up in this strange one.
"What about you? Did Qrow end up arriving here as well?" She hadn't seen the man but for all she knew, he was flying around and trying to figure out what was happening.
“I haven’t seen him yet,” Ruby replied, shrugging her shoulders. “I feel if he was here, he’d probably have managed to find us already.” Because that was how Uncle Qrow operated. He’d be out looking for anyone else trapped here, especially if it was his niece and one of his close friends.
“I kind of hope he isn’t. If he’s not, that means there is at least one person on the other side that might come looking for us.” Along with Ron, George, Fred, and anyone else the two of them had befriended here in Madison Valley. Of course, Ruby didn’t want to put anyone in danger, but in this case? She felt like Weiss and herself were going to need all the help they could get.
“We should probably keep moving. Hopefully, this place is just another portal and we’ll be able to find a way out of here.” Ruby was desperately hoping that would be the case. Otherwise, they would have to wait until Madison Valley stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing right now.
"True." Ruby was right - if her uncle were here, he would've found them already. Something Weiss didn't know how he did until she found out he could shapeshift into a crow. It definitely explained a lot.
"Me neither, although I hope they'll keep safe." Actually she hoped they didn't go looking for them and put themselves in danger. But she knew that was wishful thinking and everyone would be worried and want to find her and Ruby. Besides, she would've done the same if the roles were reversed. So all she could hope for was that they kept safe if they decided to come look for them.
"You're right. No use sticking around." But where to go, Weiss had no idea. It wasn't like there was a specific place where a portal was like usual. Both she and Ruby never entered through one, they just woke up here. In the end, she decided to head to the left only to suddenly be face to face with some creature (which she would later find out was called a demogorgon). It jumped at them, attacking, but Weiss was quick to react. Using her Semblance, she created a shield that deflected the monster and sent it flying.
"C'mon." She grabbed Ruby's hand and they headed the other way. She had a feeling this creature would recover and chase after them, but hopefully they could get some distance.
Ruby allowed Weiss to take the lead and the two young women headed in a direction to the left. Suddenly, there was an ugly creature standing in front of them. It lunged forward, teeth bared, and Ruby was about to speed them both away in a flurry of rose petals, but Weiss reacted first. Her best friend created a shield, deflecting the creature, and catapulting it in the opposite direction.
Before Ruby could even breathe, Weiss was dragging her in the other direction. Luckily, it didn’t take long for the raven haired girl to recover and she glanced over at her friend. “Do you want me to use my Semblence to take us further away from here?” Ruby asked. No, they didn’t know where they were going exactly, but it might put distance between themselves and that creepy creature if nothing else.
Weiss had no idea how far they had ran nor did she look back to see if the monster was chasing them. Eventually she did stop because she was human and could only run so far. She just hoped they covered enough distance away from... whatever that was.
She turned to Ruby and nodded. "That might be a good idea." She could get them farther away but Ruby would be able to do so much quicker. And while she would fight if she had to, Weiss wanted nothing more than to get as far away from that thing as much as possible.
She suddenly heard a noise and saw the creature had recovered and was gaining on them. "Better make it quick."
The sight of the creature rushing towards them was all the incentive Ruby needed to use her Semblence. Grasping Weiss’s free hand, the raven haired girl took off, sweeping them up in a flurry of rose petals. Ruby didn’t know if she was headed in the right direction, but at the moment, the most important thing was for the two of them to escape the creature.
Soon the creature’s growling faded and Ruby was looking for a place to set them down. She’d taken a few hairpin turns in an attempt to throw off the creature. However, in doing so, she’d also taken them far from the direction they were originally travelling. Oh well. At least they were alive.
Spotting an vacant alley, Ruby took them down, rose petals scattered on the ground as their feet hit the concrete. Unfortunately, that trek had taken a lot of energy and it was going to be a little while before Ruby could provide them with such a convenient escape route again.
“Looks like we lost it,” Ruby replied, resting her back against the brick wall of one of the buildings and looking over at Weiss. “Unfortunately, I kind of took us off course in the process.” The young woman gave a sheepish smile. “But at least we are alive.”
It had been awhile since Ruby used her Semblance and Weiss and the white haired woman had lost track of which direction they were going. But she trusted Ruby and knew that wherever they ended up would be safe. Or as safe as possible in this strange version of Madison Valley.
Eventually they stopped and Weiss was a bit dizzy, leaning against the other side of the alley from Ruby. "Hey, it's fine. As long as we're okay." That was all that mattered to Weiss at the moment. "You okay?" she asked, knowing that Ruby using her Semblance took a lot out of her.
“I’m good. I wish I had one of Ren’s smoothies right now, but I’ll survive.” Ruby wished she had anything of substance to devour right now. Her energy was seriously depleted after that close call. However, she doubted there was anything close to a smoothie around this place. They would be lucky if they found a protein bar to nibble on between them.
Pushing herself off the wall, Ruby walked over to Weiss and gave her a small smile. “Let’s keep going. Maybe we can find some food and water at least. Or even better, a bucket full of candy and the opening to the portal.” The mention of candy was a joke because she knew how Weiss felt about her eating too much sugar.