#mrfipp

The Cause of Neptune Vasilias

Drumming his fingers on the table, Neptune Vasilias eyed the entire cafeteria, crammed full of students eating their lunches, allowing them a break between their classes to recharge their batteries and to associate with their friends and teammates, as well as other students from the other kingdoms who had come for the tournament. Unlike his team captain, Neptune had no problem continuing his curriculum at Beacon Academy, and was rather thankful that the school was large enough and was able to accommodate all the additional students who came. However, looking across the expansive room, he saw something that he found greatly irritating, something that had always been a great concern to him.

"Hey, dude you okay?" asked Sun, sitting across from him, pushing around some applesauce around with a spoon. "You got that weird look on your face again."

"I really hate school uniforms," Neptune said, his voice sharp.

To his left, Scarlet gave a tired sigh, letting his head drop to the table, while to Sun's right Sage dug his face into his palms. "We're not doing this again."

"Hey! I need to say what we're all thinking!" Neptune said, defensively pointing a finger at Sage

"No one else is thinking that!" Sun threw his arms out, already exasperated. "You are probably the only person between the four academies who has put that much thought into this stuff!

"What are you guys talking about?" Team SSSN had not eating their lunch alone, and were sharing the table with the friends they had made at Beacon, Team RWBY and Team JNPR. From Neptune's right and continuing down the line was Weiss, Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha, while from Sun's left had been Blake, Yang, Nora and then Ren. Currently, eight pairs of eyes were turned towards him and Sun.

"It's nothing," said Scarlet, raising his head off the table. "It's nothing, just ignore everything he says, it's absolute bollocks!"

"No, no, they deserve to know how I feel about uniforms in general, and how they could possibly be a determent to how we grow as people in general."

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your problem with uniforms?" asked Blake, and there were collective groans from SSS.

"I'm glad you asked Blake," Neptune said with a smile. "I'm just glad that SOMEONE takes an interest in my cause."

"It's not a cause," Sage said through his fingers.

Neptune ignored him and turned in his seat to face RWBY and JNPR. "As we all know, eighty years ago, our forefathers fought in a war for the sake of freedom of expression, so that no one would have to fear censorship, or be made lesser people for the sake of conformity. I myself am a firm believer that we should be able to express ourselves however we want, and to be forced to don uniforms seems like a step back in so many ways, and if we want to keep with those ideals, then-"

"You just want to wear what you want when you want because you think Haven's uniform is ugly," Sun said, already giving up on the conversation.

"I think their both equally valid points of view," Neptune said, folding his arms over his chest. "But yes, you are right, Haven has terrible uniforms."

"I don't think they're too bad," came Pyrrha's voice from the end of the table.

"Really?" Neptune leaned over the table to see her. "Have you really taken a look at a Haven uniform?" He pushed himself out of his seat and gestured to his body, dressed in Haven Academy's male uniform. "It's just black, and gray, it's just dreadful!" He then ran up the table for a moment, and when he had returned he was pulling along someone else with him. "The girls' uniform isn't much better might I add, just the same with a checkered skirt, which while appreciated, is only so much."

"I really wish you guys had gotten a girl on your team." Arslan pulled her arm out of Neptune's grasp and gave an annoyed huff. "I just hate that I have to be the prop in this dumb argument of yours."

"It's not dumb, Arslan, we've talked about this before but-"

"No! Shut up! It's dumb! AHG!" she screamed, covering her ears up before walking away, shaking her head as she did.

"She's right you know, this is dumb," Sun said.

"You have the worst fashion sense of anyone here, so you don't have anything useful to say. You don't even put the full effort into your uniform!"

"Huh?" Sun leaned back and looked down at his own uniform, the jacket unbuttoned while the dress shirt had three buttons undone. "Why do you care? Your whole argument is how you hate uniforms, so wouldn't me not wearing it like I'm supposed to be good?"

"If you're going to be forced into something like this, then you better do it right."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"None of this does!" Slumping where he stood, Neptune looked across the room to some of the more casually dressed students. "I mean, look at the students from Shade, they don't have a dress code at all, and they all look great!" He pointed towards some of said school's students, Team NDGO in particular, in their regular combat attire. How envious he was of them.

"What about Beacon's uniforms?" Ruby asked, innocently. "I think they look cute."

"Stop encouraging him!" Scarlet cried out.

"I'm mentally checking out from this conversation," Sage said, returning to his meal.

"I'm glad you asked, Ruby." Neptune continued, reaching over and grabbing Weiss by her shoulders and lifted her out of her seat, rather easily, and set her on her feet, before going to the Ruby's right and pulling up Jaune, who could only look in distress to his lunch tray. "I'll admit that between the three, Beacon's uniforms aren't the worst..."

"My pudding..." Jaune said sadly.

"The gold trim works well with the black," Neptune continued, ignoring Jaune's pleas and Weiss' annoyed glare. "Guys have a blue vest underneath the jacket, and the girls have the red skirt, and even I have to admit that it works for what it is, but at the end of the day, it's still mandatory, and given the option I'd rather wear clothes of my own choice."

"What's so special about the stuff you wear?" Yang asked, propping herself on her elbows.

"Are you serious?" Neptune asked, offended. "I have put a lot of time and effort into my wardrobe, finding what material and color schemes go well together, optimizing styles and substance until I found a balance that I was happy with."

Blake leaned over to Sun, and whispered, "He's not serious, is he?"

"I wish," Sun replied, his head leaning into his hand. "He carries around a lint roller in his jacket pocket, and spends like thirty minutes every morning doing his hair."

Neptune went on. "To its credit, Beacon does seem kind of lax with its dress code, since I've seen some students not even in their uniforms, even in class."

Beside him, Weiss huffed and grumbled.

Ruby, in response, laughed. "Oh yeah, Weiss really doesn't like those guys too much."

"I don't see what's the big deal," Weiss said, her voice on edge. "It's just a uniform, there's no reason to not wear it. It's regulation!"

Neptune narrowed his eyes. "That's right, you're from Atlas, and basically everyone there is bred from birth to follow every single rule, straight as an arrow, without any sort of deviation."

It was at this point Neon Katt rolled by, leaving behind a rainbow trail while spinning around dust-infused nun chucks, techno-pop could be heard in the air. This went ignored by everyone.

From the other end of the table, on the opposite side, Nora called out, "Also, wasn't Atlas one of the kingdoms who were FOR censorship and uniformity?"

"That's right, they were." With a sigh, Neptune rubbed her eyes. "I just remembered how awful the Atlas uniforms are, they're stark white and they're basically military uniforms."

"It's sort of fitting since the Atlas military runs the academy," Ren said. "Especially given some of the rumors that higher marked students and heavily pressured by the state to enroll in the military when they graduate."

"That's not true!" Weiss turned around and stared down Ren. "Yes, there have been some distasteful rumors to how Atlas runs its armed services, but they certainly do not bully their students into joining."

"What about your sister?" Ruby asked. "She's in the military, and you've said she got the highest marks in her class, was she made to join the army?"

Weiss' response was to grab Ruby's hood down over her face.

"As I said," Weiss said sternly. "There is no shady business when it comes to how the military is run, nothing suspicious at all."

000

"Are you not going to eat?" asked Ciel, from the other side of the cafeteria, looking down to the empty spot before Penny.

"No, I have already eaten a hearty breakfast!" came the cheery response from the ginger-haired girl. "This morning, I ate bacon, and eggs, and a large bowl of guacamole."

"Pardon?"

"I meant to say cereal. That was what I ate for breakfast. Bacon, eggs and cereal. It was appropriately soggy. Especially the bacon!"

"...What?"

000

"It's okay Weiss, no one blames you for the fact that you grew up in a nation and house with rules so tight it's more or less like a noose," said Neptune, patting Weiss on the head.

"That's morbidly accurate," said Weiss, mumbling it under her breath and returning to her seat.

"I've said something like that before, but with a very different context," said Blake, her interest in the conversation dwindling with every second.

"I'm going back to my pudding," said Jaune, stepping back to his seat and to his pudding with the crumbled cookie bits in it.

"Is there an actual point to any of this?" said Yang, plucking at her own jacket.

"Well yes." Neptune coughed into his fist and stood straight up, hands behind his back with his chest puffed out "I want to try and abolish mandatory uniforms in the schools, or at least Haven, and I need as much help as I possibly can so that the next time I go to our headmaster, I'm not just thrown out like the last few times." He then gave his best charming smile. "So, can I count on any of you for help?"

Eleven pairs of eyes focused themselves on him, and he began to think that he would get the support here he could never could back home.

Then they each turned away from him and back to their lunches and each-other, continuing with their own business as usual.

Reluctantly giving up, Neptune sat back down to his own seat and stared at his own mostly empty tray.

Was there anyone would believed in this cause, or was he really alone in his beliefs?

000

"I hate school uniforms."

"We're not talking about this again Coco!"

000

Please review,

TH-TH-TH-AT'S A BIG URSA!

Juane reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll. The image on the holo-screen was that of his younger friend, Ruby.

“Uh, hey?” he said, putting his sword back into its sheath.

“A puppy pile has converged on the Fruity Pebbles in the tossed salad, requesting a pick-me-up from the Berry Bunch! I repeat: A puppy pile has converged on the Fruity Pebbles in the tossed salad, requesting a pick-me-up from the Berry Bunch! This is urgent!”

Jaune lowered his phone, gave it a confused look, and placed it back to his ear.

“Mr. Sunshine, can you hear me? This is Red Rover! Can you-”

“Ruby, just what are you doing?” Juane asked.

“No! It's Red Rover! We went over this at the meeting!”

“Wait, meeting? What meeting?”

“Or, at least we could have if someone had shown up!” There was then a high-pitched hmph on the other end of the line. “Seriously, I waited for like two hours for you to show up! Where were you!?”

“I'm sorry Ruby, but just what are you talking about?”

Ruby gave an annoyed groan. “Juane, I sent you a message discussing how we needed a secret code so that our teams can communicate safely over open and unsecured lines.”

“Uh huh.” Jaune slowly nodded. “What do you mean you sent a message?”

“Yeah, I sent it through an aerial delivery system.”

“Wait, you mean, that paper airplane that you threw at my head? Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that, but you split like as soon as it hit my head. Just what was that you wrote? It looked like someone chopped up wingdings and put it in a blender.”

“Oh, that was the secret written code. It's different than the spoken code.”

“How how was I supposed to decipher it?”

“By going to the meeting of course.”

“What sort of backwards logic is that? How can I go to a meeting to learn how to decipher a secret code, when the directions to said meeting are written in the secret code that I'll only know how to decipher if I go to the meeting!”

“I know! It's so perfect! No one would suspect a thing!”

Jaune gave a frustrated groan and deeply rubbed at his eyes. “And the meeting, where was it?”

“Oh, underneath the bleachers behind the gym. A lot of the other students seem to be really secretive about it, so I thought that it would be a good place to hold a secret meeting.”

“Um, Ruby...”

“I then found out why the other students are so secretive about it.” There was a pause. “I learned a lot of things that day Jaune.”

“Uh, yeah. Can I ask a question?

“Yeah sure. What is it?”

“I am Mr. Sunshine?”

“Yep, that's your codename.”

“But wouldn't Sun make a better Mr. Sunshine than me?”

There was then the sound of a hand slapping against a forehead. “Of course! It's so obvious! I should have thought of that before. Jaune, we need to have another meeting! I'll send another aerial-delivered message as soon as we get back to Beacon!”

Jaune then hung-up.

000

“Hey Jaune?” Ruby said into the phone. “You there Jaune? Hello? Jaune? Juane? Juane? Juane? Hello, are you still there? Huh.” Ruby looked the phone and looked at it questioningly. “He must have gotten disconnected.”

Behind her, Weiss, Blake and Yang all screamed, all engaged in a battle with over a dozen, giant three-headed wolf Grimm.

“Oh yeah,” Ruby said, “I supposed to be calling back-up.”

“MY SPLEEN!”

000

Jaune groaned as he put away his phone. “I really hope she really doesn't end up trying to set up a meeting in the boiler room.” He then breathed out. “Oh, wait, I was supposed to be doing something.”

Behind him, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora all screamed, all engaged in a battle with a massive squid-like Grimm with over a hundred tentacles.

“Oh yeah, I was gonna call he for back-up.”

“MY LEGS!”

000

Please be well,

The stench of the waters did nothing for him, though he supposed after the fires and lava of Lost Izalith, the murky atmosphere of the sewers were a welcomed change. The rat screeched as the sword pierced its body, running straight through its fur, flesh and bone and scrapping the brickwork and sludge below. Placing his armored boot against the unmoving corpse, he pulled the sword free and kicked the rat to the side. He then reached inside the corpse, pulling it apart to search for the treasure he had hoped that was inside.

There is was. He pulled his arm out, and nestled in his palm was the small black sprite, brimming with humanity. This small thing, was what this world came to know, something that the men and women of this cursed land would happily kill for. It was what made the difference between being the person who you had been your entire life, and a simple mindless creature, a soul-starved husk that roamed the land, searching for what had long since been lost.

Kirk, the Knight of Thorns, stood to his full height and pocketed the humanity before taking in his surroundings. All around him were the bodies of large, sickly corpses of giant rats, each one killed in the hopes of finding the one bit of humanity that they may have nestled within them. He had been at this most of the day, but his search had mostly been fruitless, offering only one other humanity in his entire hunt. Seeing the pointless of the task at hand, he had decided that another path should be taken, and withdrew the cursed item.

From his palm, the shard of the Red Eye Orb stared madly at him before it began to quickly turning, looking around, searching. Kirk squeezed it tightly, the shard glowing a deep red as he felt its remaining power course through it.

“Looking for someone to invade? To pillage humanity?” a deep voice said, and Kirk released his grip, canceling the process. He spun around towards the voice's originating spot, and came to face a doorway, a shadowy figure standing inside it. The figure came forward, Kirk placed the Cracked Orb back, and reached for his barbed sword.

“Good evening, Kirk,” said the figure, a dark creature draped in skeletal armor and a cowl of the blackest feathers. “So, this is where you have been hiding, hasn't it?” they said, raising an arm to the sludge-covered walls. “A sewer? What in Lordran would possess you to come to this place?”

Kirk said nothing, and merely stood his ground, his eyes never leaving the Darkwraith before him.

The Darkwraith laughed, a deep and sinister chuckle. “Why, not saying anything? Of course not, from what I remember, you tended to keep to yourself mostly. Unless it was to make an offering to Lord Kaathe, you had a tendency to to avoid the others if you could, and while I admit that we are not exactly the most open of groups, some would say that you were a suspicious man, Kirk.”

Slowly, step by step, the Darkwraith approached, yet Kirk stood his ground

“Could it have anything to do with why you left in the first place? Oh yes, you certainly made something of scene; taking all the Cracked orbs you could and vanishing without a trace, and I'm guessing that maybe you wanted it that way, for us to not find you. Though, I don't see why you would be worried, since it's not like we have much interest in what you do outside of the covenant. All it means is that one day, should you be unlucky enough, you'll find yourself at the end of our swords.” To drive their point forward, they raised their weapon, the dark-silver shining in the torchlight.

Kirk raised his shield, but still did nothing.

“Now, there's no reason for us to actively hunt you down like a dog, I honestly see no real reason to track down a deserter, as I could get what we want from anywhere else much easier. Though,” he said, drawing the word out slowly. “I came upon a rumon in that dreaded Blighttown, horrible place that it is, the residents there willing to selling their own mother wile they beg for their lives, though I thinkyou are more than familiar with that habit of theirs.”

Still, Kirk did not respond.

The Darkwraith continued. “From what I heard, that somewhere there exists a source of humanity, a strong one too, but weak of body. Certainly, something like that would be worth pursuing, wouldn't you think, though I will admit that my searches have brought me nothing. But,” said, the word laced with venom waiting to be sprung. “You know something about it, don't you?” They leaned forward. “Tell me, Kirk, where is she? Where is the Firekeeper, that damned child of Izalith?”

Kirk sprung and swung his sword down, but the Darkwraith caught the blade on his own, the sleek metal sliding against the jagged rusty thorns, but the Darkwraith pushed their weight to the side, sending the blades down, leaving Kirk's side exposed. The dark creature raised their free hand, and a thick dark-red aura began to emanate from it and it lunged forward, right to Kirk's face, but Kirk threw his shield up, catching the Dark Hand on the spiked shield. The knight pushed back and made to swing with his freed sword, but the Darkwraith rolled out of the way.

Coming out of the roll, he swung the sword again, but Kirk blocked again and pushed it forward, causing the Darkwraith stumble back, giving Kirk time to slash downward, cutting into the Darkwraith's body, but before he could get in another strike the Darkwraith lunged forward, tackling him to the ground and into the shallow, filthy waters. The two of them trashed about, rolling on the ground, flailing wildly as they each tried to grab and stab at one another, trying to get in what they could at the other.

Suddenly, they both fell, rolling down the sloped waterfall, tumbling in a mess of limbs before going right over the edge and crashing to the ground, breaking apart one of the large, slimy piles of flesh that stuck up from point to point.

With water filling his helm, Kirk fought the vertigo and tried to regain his bearings and pushed himself up, coughing the polluted water up as he did so. His shield was still in his hand, but his sword was gone. Frantically looking around, his saw it resting a short crawl away from him, partially submerged in the water. He reached out to grab for it but a sudden force collided with his head, sending him back into the water.

The Darkwraith kicked at Kirk's side once more, making sure the man would not get back up before stabbing their sword down, driving the blade right into Kirk's shoulder.

The knight yelled, and the sword was dug in deeper.

“Don't like this?” the Darkwraith mocked. “I had thought that this was something your were fond of, making sure your victims knew they were suffering before you ended their lives.”

Kirk tried to reach for his sword once more, but the Darkwraith was quick to deliver another swift kick, causing him to crumble into the water.

“So, where is she?” they asked, leaning down to Kirk's level, twisting the sword through the gaps in his armor. “I can do this all day, and a part of me wants to, and I also know that you are not yet undead, so I'm going to make certain to be extra careful with how I treat you. But first,” They then raised the Dark Hand and raised it over Kirk's face. “Let us see just how much humanity you've acquired, shall we? If I drain all of it, well...” It followed with a deep laugh.

There was then a croaking noise from behind, and the Darkwraith turned their head to see a pair of massive, bulbous eyes.

The basilisk took a deep breath, greatly expanding the pouch beneath its jaws and let loose a cloud of sickly gray gases and smoke, directing it at them, but the Darkwraith was quick to roll off of Kirk and to the side, avoiding the cloud as best he could. They strafed the monster, making sure to keep their eyes it and jumped at it, swinging the sword down and bringing the metal down onto the creature's neck, cutting through the bone. It gave out a gurgled growl as it slumped to the waters, its entire body going limp.

With the basilisk dead, the Darkwraith turned around, only to have Kirk's sword swing down into his side, the spiked metal digging through armor and flesh, digging deep and the Knight of Thorns used both hands to force the blade into their body. The pain was enough for Darkwraith to drop their sword as Kirk pushed them to the wall, but their other hand began to glow darkness. The hand reached up and grabbed at Kirk's helm, grasping around the through and into the eye slits and began to feed.

The two of them struggled, but only succeeded in barely pushing at one another slightly as their weapon slowly began to kill the other.

The Darkwraith's grip on Kirk's helm began to loosen, and soon their body fell limp, taking Kirk's sword, which had been sawed deep into their abdomen. Blood poured with the wound, seeping into the water, before Kirk quickly followed.

His body wracked with pain as he began to violently cough into his helm. He tried to grasp for his sword, but his hand ad become too unsteady to even grasp it in even the slightest. Pain filled his entire body, every inch of trying to cope with the loss of humanity, but failing, and soon the agony had begun to be replaced with numbness and nothing.

Despite no longer feeling as though his body was going to collapse onto itself, Kirk reached into his pouch and withdrew a dusty white object, small and brittle. It crushed easily in his hand, and the world around him became lighted smoke. Within moments the dank sewers were gone, and a comforting warmth replaced it, leaving nothing of the previous environment was left.

“Sir Kirk?” a voice rang, worried and frail. “What is the matter? Has something happened?”

Kirk ignored Eingyi and forced himself to his feet to stand before the figure before him.

The Fair Lady shivered slightly, despite the warmth of the nearby ruins, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, the spider that was her lower-half remained mostly motionless, only giving the occasion twitch of its legs. Her entire form, both witch and demon was completely white, pale from sick without the ability to speak, see or even hear. In the entire time that he had served this covenant, he had never even so much as understood what she said.

He broke the humanity, offering it to the Fairy Lady. Her body reacted slightly, becoming more active, if only for a moment, but it was enough for him to see.

Eingyi kept speaking behind him, but went ignored. All Kirk could do was stare at the Fairy Lady.

The egg-bearer, in his current condition, was defenseless, despite whatever threats he had. Mistress Quelaag was dead, slain by the undead that he had come across three times before, and the illusionary wall between this chamber and and the bell room would only remain hidden for so long.

Who would protect her now?

Kirk, Knight of Thorns, then fell back, and died.

000

Please review,

The Weird Team

The Doctor entered the doorway to the TARDIS, opening them widely behind him and making his way to the console. Behind him, he heard a sharp gasp from his new guest. He allowed himself a quick smile before turning around to see the shocked expression of Fiona Gorman, eyes wide and hand held up to her mouth. She took a step back, her gaze shooting from point to point around the entire room, from the lights, to the stairs, to the bookcases, before finally looking back to the doors.

She pointed at them. “That door,” she said, an Irish accent to her voice. “And this place.” She looked back to the console, dark eyes filled with worry. “It's-It's-Its...” The words caught in her throat as she tried to wrap her mind around what she was witnessing, unable to accept it at first. “I honestly don't know what to call this.”

No matter how many times he saw this, the Doctor always enjoyed this moment, when someone entered the TARDIS, thinking it would be a small cramped space on the inside, and not a massive spaceship. Then again, she wouldn't know what a spaceship, being a farmer from Ireland in the year 1389.

He leaned forward, excited, though not letting it show. “Bigger on the inside?”

Lowering her hand, she looked around the room, mouth agape, before looking back to the Doctor. “Your wardrobe, you weren't lying about it. You're not insane.”

He gave a coy frown. “Well, I wouldn't say I'm not insane. I've had plenty of friends call me that. Enemies too, but who listens to them anyway?”

Taking a deep breath, Fiona leaned against the railing. “I just...”

“Take your time,” he said, carefully approaching the girl.

She did, allowing herself to breath, and to continue to look around the room. Eventually, she turned back to him. “If you were telling the truth about this, then what about all those other things? About how you can travel to the stars?”

“More than that,” he said, folding her arms over his chest. “Also in time as well. I could go back to yesterday breakfast if you want, or maybe skip ahead a few hundred years and show you what a car is.”

“What's a car?” she asked leaning forward.

“Exactly,” he replied, also leaning forward. “Big metal box, used for travel, no horse.”

She looked confused. “How does it move then?”

He shrugged. “Usually on wheels, running on a combustible engine.”

“The last time I heard you use that word, the church exploded.”

“Well, that wasn't my fault,” the Doctor said, tugging at the edges of his black jacket. “Father Nolan should have had a better understanding on what he was dealing with when he let the Karathins set up shop in the church basement.”

Fiona leaned back, looking hurt.

“Sorry,” the Doctor said, reminding himself to work on his people skills.

The girl said nothing, instead opting to to walk around the console, looking down at the machine, brushing a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear. She took one lap around it before ending back at the Doctor's side, before turning to him, her expression heavy.

“Doctor,” she said, biting her lower lip, clearly not wanting to say anything, but going through it anyway. “A lot of things happened today, a lot of people I know and love are dead, and Father Nolan, a man who we all knew and trusted, is responsible for that. If a man of God, a man who has shown us nothing but kindness to the people of our town for over thirty years, could let such horrors to...” She chocked on her words and buried her face into her hand. “I just don't know what to believe anymore Doctor,” she cried.

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at the shuddering girl before him. A crisis of faith was what he was witnessing in front of him right now. A deeply religious person forced to confront the fact that the person who preached the good in humanity was doing inhumane things behind closed doors.

“Fiona,” he said, firmly but gently, leaning down to her level. “Listen to me.” Reluctantly it seemed, Fiona pulled her face out of her hands and used the dark material of her dress sleeve to wipe and her reddening eyes. “Yes, there are plenty of evil things out there in the universe, trust me when I say this since I've battled a good deal of it myself. But do know this,” He then reached out and gently touched her should, mindful of her own body language. “There is also good there too. For every Dalek I've seen, each one wanting nothing more than to exterminate every other living creature, I've seen a hundred more people willing to put a stop to them, because they refuse to let such evil have its way.” Reaching forward, he tapped a finger to her cheek and turned her face toward him so he could look her in the eyes. “There is plenty of good out there, you can trust me on that.”

“I'm not too certain about that,” Fiona said, her voice sounding hollow. “I prayed every night that my home would always be safe, and in less than a day, it all goes wrong.” Leaning back, she placed her hands on the console, keeping the Doctor in sight. “I don't know if I can believe him Him anymore, but tell me Doctor, please, what do you believe in?”

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but found himself unable to do so. What she wanted, he thought, was what believed on a spiritual level, but that was something he honestly couldn't reply, or at least not in a way that would leave her satisfied. During his long life, he'd had those sort of debates plenty of times, spanning all sorts of religions with all manner of spiritual leaders. Off the top of his head he could name at least a dozen religions where every miracle could be explained by one scientific explanation or another, but in the end it came down to the same thing.

He really couldn't say. The universe was big, and full of things that he couldn't understand, things that he may never even know about, or even be aware about. That was one of the things that made it so wonderful in the first place.

There was, however, one thing he believed in.

“I believe,” he said finally, as she looked at him hopefully. “In my friends.”

From the lower level he heard the door slide open and two sets of footsteps enter the room. There was shouting, of course.

“If you mention the beach one more time, I will personally throw you down to the bottom of the ocean!”

“Then I will drag you down with me and let you rust.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Speak of the devils.” Sighing, he spun around on his foot and turned to the stairs as the two newcomers stepped onto the platform.

The first person he saw was obviously not human; his skin was gray and craggy, rough and solid like rock, which is what it was, organic stone. There were small cracks covering his skin, open enough for him to see the small sparkles of gemstone veins that grew beneath his hide, as well as varying sized rocks that jut out along his broad shoulders, barely covered by a modest vest, worn mostly for the sake of it rather than any actual need or decency. The stairs groaned underneath his slow and heavy steps, a trait that was made even more apparent by his size, over six-and-a-half feet tall. It was because of his size that the Doctor saw him first, despite being behind the much shorter other person.

In contrast to the alien's height, the woman was only a hair above five-foot-three. She was dressed in thick, oddly cut jacket and scarf that seemed to go at odd angles, with small LED lights glowing along the length of her trousers, a common fashion statement worn by many women in Japan in the late 2620's. She was scowling, a small red light briefly shined in her right pupil. Upon reaching the top step she spun and around and glared at the stone giant.

“For the last time,” she said, her voice harsh. “I do not rust. The alloys in my augmentation were designed specifically to-”

“You speak more facts about things that I do not understand, nor wish to learn more about,” the giant said, his voice as large as him. He moved along the other side of the console, putting it between him, the woman and the Time Lord. “Doctor,” he said, looking to the man. “Keiko and I have been speaking of our next destination, and we are at an impasse.”

“Keft, shut up.” Keiko raised a hand towards the alien's direction, a shushing gesture. With her other hand she pointed towards the Doctor, or rather the person next to him. “What's the potato farmer doing here?”

“Me?” Fiona asked, gasping slightly. “I'm sorry, I don't think we had much chance to talk the last time we met. My name is Fiona Gorman, and you two are...?”

Keiko narrowed her eyes and looked the girl up from head to toe, studying her. “Kieko Mori,” she said, a bit sharply. The Doctor reminded himself that he wasn't the only one who needed to work on his people skills.

Keft nodded his head once. “My name is Keftartranf, of the planet Aganok, though I am informed that is a difficult name to pronounce, so I am called Keft by the people I call my friends.”

“I-It is nice to meet you, Keiko, Keft,” Fiona said, a nervous smile on her face as she took a step back towards the Doctor. He wondered what was scaring her more, Keft's appearance, or Keiko's attitude.

“Doctor, if you do not mind my asking,” Keft said, looking to face the Doctor, the sounds of stones grinding as his neck turned. “What is she doing her exactly? I thought you said that we would leave as soon as you returned, but you mentioned nothing of bringing someone else with you.”

“Well, yes about that,” the Doctor said, putting his hands into his pockets. “Fiona and I were just talking about that.” He looked down to the girl, who gave a bashful smile. “From what I could gather, it would seem like she'd like to come with us, isn't that right Fiona?”

Both Keiko and Keft exchanged confused and concerned looks before they both looked back to the girl. She gave her own worried looks to the pair before looking to the Doctor, who gave his own encouraging nod. Rubbing a hand along her arm, Fiona stepped forward.

“The Doctor says that he can travel in time and space, anywhere and everywhere,” she said, nervous before the two.

“That's true,” Keiko replied, a bit with caution. “I was born thirteen-hundred years from now.” She gestured her head over to Keft. “And the big rock over here is from the other side of the galaxy somewhere.” This earned her a glare from Keft, though it only lasted a moment before he looked back to Fiona.

“Do you really wish to travel with us?” he asked.

“Yes, I would like that very much,” she replied. “After what happened today, I honestly feel as though I need to search for something more, and I can't look at what's left at my home and see it.”

“And what is it that you're looking for?”

Fiona looked ahead, yet did not answer. She began to wring her hands together, looking down at them as though she was unsure what she wanted to say. After a short time, a time they all allowed her to have as they were curious for her answer, she looked back up. “I'm looking for hope, I suppose.”

“Don't I know that feeling,” the Doctor said, barely a whisper.

“I mean, if you'll have me, of course,” Fiona said, turning around back to face the Doctor, eyes pleading.

He raised a hand to his chin and stroked it, appearing to give the question some thought, though he didn't need to. By the time they had gotten back to the TARDIS, he had already made his decision in the matter. However, he did look to Keiko and Keft and furrowed his eyebrows before giving a nod. Keiko merely rolled her eyes and mouthed “fine” to him, while Keft merely gave a small shrug.

“Very well,” he said at last, turning his attention back to Fiona. “You can come if you want.”

“Really?” she gasped, life seeming to fill her up in an instant. She then quickly stepped forward, arms opening before she took a step back and lowered her arms back to her side. To him, it looked like she was about to rush him with a hug, but decided against it at the last moment. “Are you sure? I don't want to be to much trouble.”

“Don't worry about it,” the Doctor said, waving her off as he walked past her and to the controls. “I highly doubt you could cause me as much trouble as these two.”

“Hey!”

“I resent that remark.”

The Doctor ignored them. “Now, I'd say after an ordeal like that, how about we go somewhere nice? And not filled with people trying to kill us?” Cracking his fingers, he reached down and began to fiddle with the controls.

Screams of the innocent pierced their air as buildings collapsed, homes being destroyed, and no one was able to do anything to stop it, to save anyone.

The dragon roared, the terrible noise being heard throughout the kingdom, and thrashed its tail into another home, sweeping out the foundation, insuring maximum destruction. Fire poured from its jaws and engulfed the remains, setting a brilliant blaze that would never go out. From the corner of its eye, it spotted an easy meal, a civilian who had become trapped under the rubble. A tongue running across its sharp teeth, it approached the down man, who could only scream and cry in fear and panic, praying that someone would come and help him.

The beast raised its head high, high enough to see for miles, and looked down at the man, mouth open, ready to feast.

A loud bang sounded off, and the dragon's head recoiled to the side. With an angry snarl, it whipped its head around and looked across the city where the shot came from, and spotted a single figure standing on a rooftop.

The Huntress stood, tall and beautiful, dark-red hair flowing in the wind, a heavy red cape accompanying it. In her hand she held a large weapon, which she pointed at the monster with a single hand, and pulled a trigger, sending off another blast into the dragon's face, causing it to scream.

Smoke billowing from its snout, the colossal beast charged the Huntress, who spun her weapon around and stuck the top of the shaft into the ground. She pulled the trigger again, just as the dragon struck, and with another blast, launched herself into the air as the dragon crashed its head into the building. Sailing straight up into the air, she flipped her weapon around so that it was pointing straight up and pulled the trigger once more, sending herself back down, weapon spinning like a top, and slicing the top of the dragon's skull, leaving deep scar, spilling hot dark blood out, before she vanished a flurry of rose petals, and appeared across the street.

Another roar filled the air, a roar filled with hatred and anger, that it would bring any other person to their knees. But the Huntress was no one normal, she had battled creatures like this many times, so much that it had become something routine, and rather boring. A dragon of this size? Nothing but a game for her.

The battle continued, it was long, lasting for hours, with the dragon taking massive damage, but not hurting the Huntress in the slightest. At this point, she was just getting bored.

At some point, she managed to wedge her weapon right in between its jaws. It swung its head wildly, trying to dislodge the Huntress, but unable to succeed in the slightest. With another blast, this one right into the upper jaw, the Huntress flew backwards through the air, and landed in the street.

The monster stared her down with hate-filled eyes glared down at her, and it charged, wings spread open, mouth wide and flame billowing.

The Huntress raised her weapon, and prepared.

Ruby Rose realized something was off.

“Wait, what?” she asked, looking around in confusion. She then took a moment to think in deeply consider what was happening. “This is a dream, isn't it?” Looking around, she saw evidence that this was very much dream.

The houses that had been destroyed in the conflict, were all made of gingerbread. The people she was protecting were cookies, cakes, and bowls of ice cream. The giant dragon she had been fighting was actually made of brownie, and its blood thick hot fudge. Even her weapon was different; instead of her Crescent Rose, which fired high caliber bullets, she had been wielding a large candy cane which fired exploding gumdrops.

“Yeah, I'm dreaming,” she said aloud, to no one around her. “Does that mean I wake up?” She looked up in the sky, as though it was going to provide her with an answer of some sort, but none were provided to her.

She then noticed that despite running at full speed, the dragon at not come any closer to her.

Scratching the top of her head with the candy cane, Ruby wondered what she could do now. She recalled someone somewhere, Blake maybe, saying that becoming aware of your dreams meant you had control of them. She'd never had any sort of lucid dream before, she hardly ever really remembered the dreams she'd had, well except for some nightmares she'd been having the last few years.

“Hey dragon!” she called out to the charging dragon that wasn't moving anywhere. “Can you do me a favor and die?”

The dragon suddenly became stiff, and then then just dropped in front of her, its massive head landing in front of her, giant chocolate tongue hanging out.

“Bleh....” it said as it died.

Ruby looked at the dragon, and around the town, and back at the dragon, and gave it a kick in the snout.

“I should get a celebration for this,” she said, a small smirk growing.

And the kingdom rejoiced.

The Huntress found herself being lifted into the air by the citizens of the kingdom, who cried tears of joy and cheered Ruby's name. They carried all the way to the candy castle, and brought her to the throne of Cake King, who towered over this people, and was made of chocolate cake topped with strawberries.

“Brave Huntress Ruby!” he proclaimed and stood from his spongy cake throne. “You have saved my kingdom from that horrible dragon! As a reward, you may marry my daughter! Princess Cupcake!”

A small cupcake bounced into the room, and landed into Ruby's arms, and the kingdom rejoiced even further.

She looked down at her cupcake fiance, and laughed, before looking up to the ceiling. “To space!”

Ruby then fired off into the air, through the roof, to the sky, and into outer space, splashing through the Milky Way, which was filled with whole milk, not that 2% junk Yang liked.

The Cupcake Princess happily giggled, and Ruby began eating her frosting hair.

That was when everything went poof.

“Am I interrupting anything?”

Ruby opened her eyes, saw that her arms were cradling nothing, and sighed in disappointment. She then looked down at herself, saw that she had lost the extra seven inches in height, and groaned.

Accepting the fact that she was short and without cupcake, Ruby looked around to where she was.

The first thing she saw was a large round table, covered in a clean white table cloth, and adorned with a fancy silver tea set. The room itself was, well, not an actual room. From what she could see, she was in the center of a cobbled street, a single streetlight shining down on her. The part of a brick wall was present, taking up one side of the street, as well as a gate that had a thick chain wrapped around it.

What she found most baffling however was that the street was hovering in the void, surrounded by absolute darkness. Other than the partial brick wall and gate, there was nothing but the street. All she could see beyond the island of street was darkness.

“Are you listening, little girl?” came a voice, the one from before. Snapping out of her confusion, Ruby looked across the table, and saw that she was not alone.

It was a man, an older man, with a shimmering dark robe that faded into dark purple along the edges. His hair was long and black, a portion of his covering his face, which was long and pale, with bright yellow eyes.

“Um...”

He laughed. It was a kind laugh, something that would usually be nice a warm, but it still managed to make her uneasy.

The man took a sip of his tea, and then widely smiled.“I know you have a thing for princesses, but I really think we should begin talking, you know, we've only got so much time.”

Ruby looked at the man questioningly. “Um, I'm sorry, but what's going on? Who are you, and where am I?”

He gave a dramatic sigh, rolling his eyes before placing his tea back on the table. “A bit impatient already? You should know, before making demands of other people, you should always at least have the common courtesy to introduce yourself.

“Ruby Rose,” she said, with some hesitance and distrust.

“Ruby Rose,” the man said, a grin on his face. “That is a lovely name. Very lucky to be named that.”

“What about you?”

“Me? Oh, you can call me Baku.”

“Baku?” Ruby shifted her eyes slightly. “Baku? Where have I heard that name before?” she whispered to herself.

“Oh I'll get to that,” Baku said, picking his tea back up. “Why not enjoy your tea? Very rarely do I get guests here, so I made it special. Even if tea is not your thing, you should find it delicious.” With a pinky pointed out, he took a sip from the cup.

Looking down slightly, Ruby did indeed see a cup of tea in front of her. Reaching out, she picked it up by the handle, pinky out because that was what fancy people did, and carefully took a sip. Normally, she would enjoy things like coffee or hot chocolate, but she had to admit that the tea was rather good.

Downing the rest of his tea, Baku leaned forward, placing both elbows on the table, the cup dangling from his fingers, and look at Ruby from over his hands. “So, Ruby Rose, you can start. Ask away. Satiate your curiosity on the matters at hand.”

Ruby swallowed a mouthful of tea and placed the cup back down on the table. Nervous, a bit unsure about the situation, and her eyes dashing around the area, Ruby folded her hands on the table, and stared as straight as she could. “So...” Deep breath. “Who are you?” Yeah, very good start.

“Like I said, my name is Baku.” Baku waved a hand, gesturing to himself.

“No, I mean, like, who are you? And where are we, and what street is this, and why is there tea, and what happened to the cupcake-”

“You ramble, don't you?”

A bit embarrassed, Ruby snapped her mouth closed.

Baku then sighed, and leaned back in his chair. “Fine, since it seems like you're not too good with questions, I'm just going to explain things to you, okay?”

Ruby nodded her head.

“First, do you remember back in the cave? The last thing you remember?”

She frowned, a bit confused, but then her memories returned. Her friends, all unconscious, and the monster!

The man chuckled to himself as she gasped. “So you do remember then, eh?”

“What happened to my friends?” she asked, more confident and determined than she had been a second ago.

“Don't get ahead of yourself, we'll get to them, I promise,” Baku replied, completely nonchalant. “Do you remember the creature though?”

“The pig-thing!”

“I'm not a pig,” Baku sneered, a look of disgust on his face.

“What?”

“Yes, that pig as you so crudely put it, is me.”

“But, you're not a whatever-that-was. Are you?” Narrowing her eyes, she leaned forward and closely looked at the man. “What are you?”

Baku laughed, his eyes shining, and his voice became low. “Like I said, my name is Baku. Or, at least that is the name you humans gave me. I am Grimm, one of the ancient and powerful ones. The creature you saw in the cave was merely my physical body, what you see before you is the form I take in this realm.”

Ruby stared wide-eyed at the man. Was he really a Grimm? It was something she had trouble believing, but for the moment, decided to press on.

“But, where are we?” Ruby asked, looking around the street and void.

“We, dear Ruby Rose, are in the realm of dreams,” Baku said, a grin on his face. He then clapped his hands, and the table, chairs and tea all vanished. Ruby, with no chair under her, found herself falling to the ground, but the sudden appearance of an arm hooking under her stopped her from hitting it. “And in this realm, I am king.” Baku then pushed his arm forward, and Ruby ended up tumbling forward, but luckily she was able to gather her composure before she hit the ground. Spinning around, she stared right at Baku and pointed a finger at him.

“Now I remember!” she cried. “I read about you in a book! Baku is a really powerful Grimm that eats dreams!”

“Correct!” Baku cheered, arms spread wide. “You've won the prize!”

“What prize?” Ruby was a bit ashamed to be a little excited.

Baku's expression remained. “You get the chance to save your friends!” He clapped his hand, and seven doors appeared near the edge of the street, only a few feet from where it ended.

Ruby looked around at the seven doors that surrounded her, still unsure. “What are these.”

He waved his finger at her. “Nope, let me explain first.” The man then ran a hand through the sleek black hair, and stared at Ruby. “Like you know, I am Baku, a Grimm who feasts on dreams, and the more dreams I feast upon, the more powerful my physical body can become. With me so far?”

Slowly, Ruby nodded.

He clapped once. “Good.” Baku continued, speaking slowly, like he was talking down to her. “Many decades ago, I became injured, just some battle with some Hunters, nothing too important now. In order to recover from my wounds, I decided to sleep them off in a Dust field, burying myself deep into the ground. Today is the say I woke up, what do I find?” He leaned forward, as though he was expecting Ruby to answer.

“My friends!” she cried out.

“Exactly! I found seven young men and women with very powerful auras on them.. How could I resist but to put them to sleep?” He then sighed, looking a bit disappointed. “However, I think I bit off more than I could chew really. After so long asleep, I underestimated my abilities. I managed to put them them all to sleep, but my hold on their dreams was weaker than it should. Normally at this point, they'd be dead.”

Crescent Rose unfolded itself, and the tip of the blade embedded in the ground, and the muzzle pointed right at him.

Baku waved his hand dismissively. “Don't worry about them, there still alive.”

“And what about me?” Ruby asked, her eyes never leaving the man before her, her finger on the trigger.

“Like I said,” Baku said, a bit more serious. “I overestimated what I could do. I was barely able to put those seven under, and you blundering in didn't exactly make things easy for me. I managed to put you to sleep, but I had no control over your dream, a repeat of last night's actual.” He sighed. “A bit boring, if you ask me.”

Ruby narrowed her eyes.

“That is why I decided to have a bit of fun!” he said cheerfully, approaching Ruby without a care.

She had tried to fire, but before Ruby knew it, Baku had been at her side. He reached over and put an arm around her shoulder, holding her tight in one arm, and raised her into the air effortlessly. Her kicking and struggling was futile.

“Now, we are going to play a game, so listen closely, okay?” Baku then spun around, gesturing to the seven doors. “You are going to play for their lives, got it? Each door leads to a dream each one is having, you go into the door, rescue them, and bring them back here. Save all seven, and you win, and I let you go, got it?” He then let go of Ruby, who was sent tumbling to the ground, her head still spinning around. “But be warned, just because my magic is weaker, doesn't mean they're not in danger. It's still in affect, and every second you waste, is a second closer they are to doom, despair, and death.”

“Eh?” Ruby stood up, straightening her head, and began to look at the doors. Without thinking, Ruby mad a beeline straight for the door with the burning heart engraved on it

It wouldn't open though, no matter how hard she tried, the door knob wouldn't even jiggle.

“You're not going to make it into that one,” Baku said, arms being folded across his chest.

“Why not?” Ruby shot back, her hand not letting go of the door.

“Two reasons. The first being is that the dream she's having at this moment is well, let's say not suitable for eyes as young as yours.”

For a moment, Ruby was confused, staring oddly at Baku. Suddenly, realization came upon her.

“Ewewewgross!” She back away from the door in a panic, shaking her had, before wiping it on her skirt, trying to get it clean from perceived filth.

Baku only laughed. “Oh, now that's funny! But seriously, you can't go in there, even is she wasn't having that kind of dream.”

Ruby carefully eyed Baku. “What do you mean?”

The Grimm-Man leaned down until he was at Ruby's eye level. “Why did you go for your sister's door? Is it because out of everyone here, she's is the one you know best? The one you trust more than anyone else?”

She stood tall, trying the best she could to look intimidating to him.“Yeah, of course she is. I've known her since I was like four. I honestly don't remember too many things from before I met her.”

He only chuckled, it was a bit more sinister than usual. “That is exactly why you can't enter that door yet. Because she returns that trust, thus making it more difficult for you to be let into her mind.

“I don't understand,” Ruby said with a frown, confused. “Wouldn't that make it easier for me?”

“No.” Baku straightened up, towering over her. “Because of that, it actually makes it more difficult. She loves you so much, that she would never let you in, just so she could hide secrets from you.

“Yang isn't hiding anything from me. We don't keep secrets from each other.” Ruby glared at Baku, and became very annoyed at how unresponsive he was.

Baku shrugged. “If that's what you think. But know this; the closer you are to someone, the more desperate they'd be to keep you out, just so they could keep hiding from you.”

Turning her head slightly, Ruby looked around at the seven doors, wondering where to go next. If she couldn't get to Yang, then...

“Here's some advice,” Baku said, snapping Ruby from her thoughts. “Work your way up. Start with who you are less familiar with, the people who you are not as close too, from there, you will be able to enter the minds of those you are closer too.”

Ruby said nothing, simply going over the information in her head. She didn't like the implication that her friends were keeping secrets from her. But there was something else bothering her too. She just didn't trust Baku.

“Is that all?” she asked, an accusing tone to her voice. “Are you keeping anything from me?”

“Oh, Ruby Rose,” she said, a smile on his face. “Of course I am.”

He then vanished, leaving Ruby alone with the seven doors.

For a minute, she evaluated the friendships she had with these people, considered who was closer, and decided the order she should go.

Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the first door.

000