12 Amaya

"Ruby… Come on, you need to get some sleep… He's not going anywhere." Yang said as she called out to her sister who was blankly staring at the unconscious body of Arthur who was now lying on a bed in the infirmary. Not getting a response from Ruby who clenched her hands around Arthurs book, turning her palms white.

"Come on, sis. It's been a week, I'm sure he will wake up soon, you don't want him seeing you like this. You need to sleep." Yang pleaded to her sister.

"… I can't, Yang… every time I close my eyes it's all I see… I see the feather falling towards me, I remember the hopeless feeling in my gut as I watched my life flicker before my eyes… All I see is his body impaled into the ground… I remember his face! He-he smiled! Yang! He smiled!" tears now falling from her eyes landing onto the cover of Arthurs Tome, slowly evaporating into particles of light that went unnoticed by the two sisters.

"Why! why would you smile! You idiot!" she began sobbing as Yang sat on the armrest of the chair and pulled Ruby to her shoulder.

"Oh, Rubes…" Yang muttered as she gently stroked the hair of her sister, turning to look at Arthur she muttered low enough so that Ruby didn't hear her "Wake up you bastard…" Her gaze soon being attracted by a dull glow coming from Rubys lap.

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"How did this happen, Ozpin!" Shouted Summer as she stood before Ozpin slamming her fists onto his desk knocking his coffee mug over. Much to disgruntlement Of Glynda who was standing to the side.

"Summer, please calm down so I may explain" Ozpin said as he stared at Summers furious eyes.

"Calm down!? You know better than that! I sent Arthur to you! And look where that got him! I thought you had improved by now, Oz. He- Arthur has been through a lot, I can tell, his blank stares, they remind me of myself from twelve years ago… no his were worse, much, much worse." She spoke holding herself at the memories of the past.

"Summer, I am sorry for that. You know I am, had I known I never would have assigned you that mission." Ozpin admitted as he lowered his head remorsefully to her.

"I don't need your sympathy; those scars will never heal no matter how much you apologize." She blankly stated as she continued to address Ozpin "I have made efforts to mend our friendship, Oz. But Arthur, he didn't deserve this, I recommended him to you because I thought you might be able to guide him like you did me when I first arrived here. What happened, Oz? How could you let this happen?" she asked him staring firmly into his eyes.

"I do not know, Summer. We had checked the forest numerous times before the initiation, and they were by all means capable of defeating those Grimm. I do not understand what brought upon this outcome, sheer chance? Maybe something else…" he said as he stood from his desk and turned around to gaze out the window at the courtyards that were covered in the dark moonlight.

"Ozpin… Will they be safe here?" Summer asked desperation audible in her voice. "Ruby… she is not ready for her powers, she is too young."

"None of us are ever ready, no matter how much we may prepare for it, we are never fully ready for this. We huntsmen, we prepare our entire lives to fight monsters. Yet we are never ready for us to witness one of our own being taken away by said monsters." Melancholy filled Ozpin's face as he stared towards a statue at the centre of the main courtyard.

"We are never ready…"

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"Ruby. Why is the book shining?" Yang asked her sister who had also noticed that Arthurs Tome had begun to glow a dim white light.

"I, have no idea. It flew before, never shined." She replied as she also stared at the tome in wonder.

"It flew? You're joking right?" Yang asked disbelievingly only to quiet down as the book began to lift off of Rubys lap and into the air.

"It's, actually flying…" Yang said blankly as she stared in shock at the now flying book.

The book slowly began to rise before the two before stopping right in front of Rubys eyes before opening and rapidly flipping through its pages, its light seeming almost hypnotic to her, as her own eyes also began to glow in the same light, causing her body to freeze.

"Ruby?" Yang asked as she looked to her unresponsive sister, "Ruby? You there?" she asked still not getting any response. "Come on Rubes, it's not funny" she said her voice now getting more worried. "Seriously Ruby, you can stop now." She began to shake her sister whose only response was to collapse onto her sister as the light faded from her eyes as well as from the book which slowly landed on the ground.

"Ruby!"

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"Where am I?" Ruby asked as she opened her eyes and began to inspect her surroundings with clear confusion. She stood alone in an empty white void with the only semblance of 'colour' being the endless pool of black water she stood atop.

"Hello!?" She shouted into the void getting no response "Anyone!? Hello!?" she kept shouting still getting nothing in return as she wandered the empty void. "Yang? Mom? Dad? Arthur? Anyone!?" she shouted out in desperation as she collapsed to the floor tear falling from her eyes in dismay. "Please… Someone? Anyone?" she pleaded as she soon became silent and stared into the empty white sky that had haunted her for what felt like hours.

Soon Ruby felt a cool breeze touch her face, as if guiding her to turn around. Ruby slowly stood from the ground and turned around, expecting that she would once again be met with the empty void. Yet when she turned around she was met with a luscious field of green grass, interlaced with large bushes of red roses. At the centre of this field Ruby spotted the thing she had been begging for, a person, she sat behind a small round table at the centre of a small gazebo.

Ruby soon found herself charging towards this person who soon noticed her and raised her head to see Ruby rapidly approaching. The woman began to panic at the rapidly approaching sight of Ruby who then jumped and lunged at the woman and held her in a tight bear hug as she muttered "I'm not alone."

"Owww" whined the woman who had been suddenly bear hugged by the red reaper.

Ruby hearing this realized she had become a little too excited at the sight of another person within the empty dreamscape that had become a field of rose bushes. "Sorry" Ruby apologized as she let go of the woman who quickly rolled her shoulders to get rid of any lasting pain.

Once Ruby had released herself from the woman she took a step back and began to inspect the woman. She had grey hair reminiscent of ash that fell to her hips, her eyes were a deep azure. She looked to be around eighteen years old and seemed to be as tall as Yang, albeit with a much lighter and diminutive frame, so much so that she seemed that the breeze would break her into pieces when combined with her pale almost doll-like complexion.

She wore a long asymmetrical V-neck cardigan with a cable knit pattern that wrapped around her neck and went fell all the way down her belly and was buttoned by a single leather band that connected the two halves of the cardigan together. the fabric along her shoulders and back were the regular ridged fabric often used in cardigan sweaters. From her waist fell a simple yet elegant light grey pleated skirt that fell to her ankles. On her feet she wore a pair of brown, leather boots.

"It's not polite to stare, you know?" The woman teased as she stared at Ruby with a light smile.

"Huh? Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to stare!" Ruby replied in a panic.

"It's quite alright Ruby, I'm just teasing you." The woman giggled as Rubys face contorted into a cute pout.

"That's mean!" Ruby complained as she realized something "Wait. How do you know my name?" she asked, "And have we met before? You look familiar?"

"Hmm? Oh, I suppose we have already met Ruby, just not in person." She answered before she perked up and said "Oh right! I forgot, where are my manners. My name is Ashe Amaya, sorry for the late introductions." Ashe said as she pointed to herself and gave a short bow.

"Ruby Rose" Ruby said naming herself as she squinted at the woman trying to remember where she had seen her before. Her eyes soon lit up once she realized who she was before she was once again fell into confusion "You are that girl from the picture in Arthurs book" Ruby stated getting a nod from Ashe.

"Yep, that was me in both 'pictures'" she said putting quotations when she said 'Pictures'. "Technically those weren't 'Pictures', they were memories." She answered

"Memories?"

"Yes, memories. That page in the Tome is where all of Arthurs memories are stored and where he can view them whenever he wants. The memories you saw were his happiest memories with me, although I must say the last one wasn't particularly happy for me." She showed a annoyed face when she was reminded of her and Arthurs parting.

"So that boy was Arthur?" Ruby asked "But he looked older than he does now. And why was he dissolving into light in that one picture? That didn't happen, did it?" Ruby thought as she remembered the picture of Ashe clutching onto the black haired boy as he slowly dissolved into particles of light.

Ashe looked at Ruby with sadness in her eyes as she slowly stood up. "Come, follow me." She said as she walked away from the Gazebo and towards the black and white void Ruby had just come out of.

Ruby looked in caution as she was worried of being left alone in the empty void. "Oh come on, I'm not going anywhere. Just want to show you something" Ashe said as she stepped onto the black water, as soon as her foot touched the water a ripple appeared atop it as from the dark depths rose a wall with a large window and a blue door.

Walking up to the window Ruby peered in and saw the same scene as the picture, an eighteen year old boy with black hair sat next to a hospital bed where a grey haired girl weakly lay, The boys hands intertwined with hers clutching tightly as tears poured from her face.

Ashe also watched this scene next to Ruby, tears already forming in her eyes.

From beyond the window Ruby could hear the girl softly say "Good…Bye" before the heart rate monitor flat lined next to her. Ruby seeing quickly turned towards Ashe "You, Died?" she asked as Ashe simply nodded and kept watching the scene in front of her, tears now falling from her eyes.

Turning her head back to the scene Ruby saw the boy's body begin to glow a white light that entered into the girl's body, forcing a dark black sludge from her body, this sludge soon wrapped around the boys hands and slowly disappeared into his skin.

Once the light had faded a loud slamming sound could be heard as a man ran into the room shouting "What just happened!?" as he stared at the boy who was clutching to Ashes still limp hand as the flat beep could be heard from the heart monitor. Yet moments later this beep transformed into the rhythmic sounds of a heartbeat, slowly getting faster and faster until finally the girl gasped and her eyes shot open in panic. Her eyes darted around the room before locking on the boys own eyes.

"Looks like I'm not just misfortune" the boy stated as leaned in and kissed the girl on her lips, staying there for a few seconds as the girl muttered "Arthur?" before her eyes were drawn to a light glow from his Arthurs hands.

"I see… so this is the price of miracles…" Arthur muttered as he slowly watched his body become translucent and breakdown into various sizes of round particles of light that rose through the ceiling of the hospital room.

"Ashe? Can you do something for me? Please, can you never forget me?" he asked as a small sad smile appeared on his face which was now also beginning to become translucent.

"Don't you dare! You don't get to cause a miracle and just dissapear on me like this!" Ashe scream as tears streamed from her eyes without end.

"I love you Ashe." He stated as he leant in once more and kissed her, his entire body finally disappearing the moment their lips touched, leaving behind nothing but his empty clothes that soon fell to the ground except for his shirt which was clutched tightly by Ashe as she buried her face into it sobbing loudly, as the hospital room slowly began to fade away into the same white light and disappeared back into the ocean of black water.