Groaning, Ruby Rose opened her eyes to be greeted by an overcast grey sky and snowflakes landing on her face. She lay there for a moment, confused, before her memories started to return. The evacuation of Mantle, Cinder sneaking in with the refugees and attacking, a desperate battle in that strange, otherworldly place, Neo revealing herself, Yang taking the blow meant for her andโฆ Falling.
(It's your fault she Fell.)
Gritting her teeth, she forced back a sob of grief and forced herself to sit up. Looking around, she was greeted by an unexpected sight. She was in the middle of a city street half buried in snow, cars and buildings long since destroyed by fire. For a moment, she wondered if she was back in Mantle somehow (You couldn't save it), before realizing the architecture was all wrong. This was somewhere new.
Slowly, her limbs feeling like they were made of lead, she climbed to her feet and brushed away the snow. "Howโฆ" she began, before her eyes widened as she remembered. She'd fallen from the bridges, just like Yang. She'd fallen into the void, and now she was here, alive. Which meant that Yang was almost certainly alive!
(No thanks to you.)
Looking around as if her sister would just appear, Ruby caught sight of a familiar handle sticking up from behind a car. Making her way around the ruined vehicle, she found Crescent Rose in scythe mode, the blade embedded in the sidewalk. It only took a moment to pull her weapon free, and after checking it for damage, she returned it to storage mode and clipped it to the small of her back. Then, lacking any information, she picked a direction and started walking.
Reaching the first intersection, she glanced down the side street, then stopped and stared. In the distance, rising high above the city around it and taking up the entire horizon, was a truly massive tower. Completely different in design to the surrounding city, with massive spikes along its entire structure, it had an aura of menace even before one considered the fact it was somehow emitting an ominous red aura.
Slowly, Ruby shook her head in disbelief. She'd seen ruined cities before, even relatively modern ones like Mountain Glenn, but this place had clearly been destroyed recently (Just like what you did to Atlas and Mantle). And that tower was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, seeming almost alienโฆ She took a deep breath, trying to push the growing panic back down. She couldn't fall apart here. Doing so would almost certainly doom her. She had to focus, to stay strong (You're the leader, you're not allowed to be scared).
Before her thoughts could spiral further, a distant explosion to the east caught her attention. Listening closer, Ruby could barely make out other noises from the same direction. Including, she realized after a moment, the occasional gun shot. "People," she gasped, before exploding into a mass of rose petals and a swirling cape, racing down the street as fast as she could go.
Darting forward, Alisaie Leveilleur drove her rapier deep into the monsters side, giving the soldiers time to fall back. Before she could follow up with a proper combo, the morbol opened the mouths along the side of its body, toxic fluids flowing over its lips, and she back-flipped away before it could vomit them all over her. Landing lightly next to Jullus pyr Norbanus, she gave her friend a wry look. "How in the hells did you get an outbreak of these things here of all places?"
The Garlean officer chuckled lightly. "Apparently, someone gifted one to Emperor Solus back in the day. And unfortunately for us all, the Imperial Botanical Gardens were not as secure as they could have been." Raising his gunblade, he fired an explosive round into the side of the nearest morbol, blasting off several of the beasts tendrils. "Everyone expected the cold to kill the beast quickly, but alasโฆ"
"It always comes back to Emet-selch somehow," the Elezen woman muttered under her breath, as several of her brothers nouliths flew overhead, blasting the monsters with aetheric lasers from all sides, before returning to their weilders side.
Stepping up next to her, Alphinaud frowned thoughtfully. "And now that we lack the resources to properly cull their numbers, their numbers surge as invasive species are wont to do." Gesturing towards several of the soldiers, his nouliths flew off again, this time projecting protective shielding around his targets. "Still, I will gladly take hungry wild animals over more uncontrolled warmachina."
That earned a wry laugh from his sister, even as she brought her sword and focus together to charge a spell. "We have had far too many of those lately, have we not?"
The morbols roared, several raising their tendrils to strike again, only for several gunshots to rip them apart. While the monsters reeled in pain, both the twins and the Garlean soldiers glanced around in confusion, before a blur of red shot overhead, trailing red rose petals, before reforming into a young Hyur woman wielding a boxy rifle of some sort. She landed lightly a short distance away, red cloak billowing out behind her, then swung her rifle out to the side. As they watched, it transformed, unfolding into a massive battle scythe, the woman twirling it around herself with shocking ease, before she launched herself at the monsters.
Alisaie froze, looking at the rose petals trailing behind the woman, then glanced at her brother, who looked just as shocked as she was. Then they shook off the surprise and turned back to the fight, launching spells into the beasts, even as the new arrival practically danced between them, her scythe carving through the seedkin with an ease and grace that would make any Reaper jealous.
In a matter of minutes, the fight was over, the last morbol slumping into the snow in pieces, all the soldiers clearly relieved to have won without injuries of their own. As the twins put their weapons away, the Hyur woman turned to face them, resting her scythe on her shoulder. "Is everyone alright?" she asked.
"Iโฆ believe so, yes," Alphinaud managed as he took in her features. Alisaie wasn't much better. They were shockingly familiar, especially her eyesโฆ
"Your arrival was well-timed my lady," Jullus said politely, bowing slightly. "My thanks for your assistance. Jullus pyr Norbanus, Imperial Army, at your service."
She nodded, managing a smile. "I'm Ruby Rose, Huntress. More than happy to help."
Alisaie and Alphinaud turned to each other in shock upon hearing that name. Jullus didn't notice their reaction, but the man clearly recognized enough of the name. "Any relation to Summer Rose, might I ask?"
Ruby jerked back like she'd been punched, silver eyes widening in shock at hearing that name from someone her age. "M-my mother? How do you know about her?"
Blinking in surprise, Jullus shrugged. "Who doesn't know the Warrior of Light at this point?"
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