"What do you think? She's strong, sure, but is she strong enough? I don't think anyone has survived anything like this. She's gonna get swallowed up."

He shifted onto his back, staring up at the sky. "She'll be fine. You can feel it, yeah? Her soul is trying to fill every inch of this place."

"It's one soul. How much can it do?"

"Remember, we were one soul, a long time ago." He rolled over onto his side. "Now, let me sleep."

Ruby was asleep, safe in her bed, in her house on Patch. Of course, if you were able to ask her in that moment, she would say she was wide awake. In a way, she was. Her world was bone and sand, the same world she had been wandering around in for the past week. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't a fan of all the sand everywhere. It was coarse, and it got into everything, including under her toenails when a particularly loose patch caused her to slip somewhat down a rather large dune. In her dreams that she would swear up and down felt real, she was always moving towards a clump of big white structures in the distance, glowing gently in the night. They weren't particularly large to her eyes, but that could have been the distance. After all, there were no easily comparable landmarks other than a few scattered, scraggly trees. There were no leaves on these bone-white trees, and yet they would wave in a nonexistent wind as they cast long shadows that blended into the darkness.

The glowing white spires beckoned softly in the distance, and Ruby continued her trek forward. After all, she already knew she wasn't going to wake up until the morning anyways. Time almost seemed to move slower in the desert compared to when she was in her own world. The trek was utterly dull and repetitive; the strange, crescent moon that hung in the sky only held her attention for a few seconds before it became another part of the scenery. The utterly unremarkable scenery.

The spires became her only target, and Ruby trudged onward. Occasionally, she reflected at the eagerness she had when she first spotted the structures in the distance. She remembered eagerly running as fast as her bare feet could take her, excited that there was finally something to do in this utterly boring wasteland! Unfortunately, her running quickly became jogging, that finally devolved into her current leisurely, trudging pace towards those spires.

The chain attached to her chest hung loosely over the thin, almost translucent nightgown that covered her shoulders, chest, and thighs. The metal plate pinned the smock to her chest, while the rest of the chain swung free. She absentmindedly ran her hand over the links.

"Nine left. Four less than yesterday." Hopefully that meant her dream would be over soon. At the longest, maybe two days. There was always a few links missing whenever she found herself here, the broken links nowhere to be found. Four was a relatively small number. There were usually around six or seven gone per night. She was grateful when the chain had stopped dragging in the sand behind her the third night.

It was a nice night, she decided. She had only been in the desert for three hours or so tonight, so she expected another ten to twelve before she would wake up. This was the sixth time, and she could feel her progress towards the spires this time. It came as a shortness of breath, a rush of adrenaline. It was like she was walking towards a magnet. And as she crested the next hill, she knew she was right.

The large domed structure glinted softly underneath the sprawling spires, tantalisingly close and yet frustratingly far. Her pace was sluggish in bare feet and on the sand. But she ran anyways, towards something to do. There was the smallest of smiles on her face. "Finally." She slipped and slid down the dune, and managed to find herself tumbling down it.

Blue flashed in front of her eyes. She could feel the chain on her chest ripping, tearing away like she was being pulled apart. It hurt... but then it didn't. There was another flash of light, and Ruby found herself awake.

She woke sweating, gasping for air and sweating, her chest on fire, rolling out of her bed and falling to the floor. She patted the area gently and found nothing wrong, letting out slow breaths even as she tried her best to calm herself.

"Ruby? What is it?" Yang sounded kind of annoyed.

"N-nothing." Her voice came out dry and raspy, like she had spent the last few hours in a desert, which seemed almost appropriate for her tired mind.

"You've been weird lately, Rubes. Are you sure you're ok?"

"I... don't know. I think?"

"If you're feeling ok, then go to bed." Yang turned back over. "We're headed to Beacon tomorrow, remember?"

"Yeah." That's right, she was going to Beacon tomorrow. It was strange how real life seemed to slip away from her when she was in her dream, like that was what was important. The real, waking world she had been living in for fifteen years was the dream.

She smiled, determined. But that didn't matter, because she was going to be a huntress. "Right. Goodnight, sis."

"G'night."

And yet, Ruby couldn't help but look out the window at her shattered moon, and think about how fake it looked. She didn't sleep at all the rest of that night.

The next day she was exhausted, and on her way to Beacon Academy. Her bags were packed and she was on the airship. A hologram named Glynda Goodwitch was talking to one side, and there was a boy vomiting in the corner. She was kind of tired. And hungry. "I'm not feeling great, Yang." Ruby frowned.

"Are you gonna barf on me?" Yang glanced at the blonde boy in the corner that Ruby mentally dubbed 'Vomit Boy'. Ruby simply turned back into her chair and tried to fall asleep for what felt like the seventeenth time on that airship. Just like every other time, however, she failed.

"Come on, we're landing." Yang grabbed her a bit and dragged her towards the exit. "Maybe we need to get you to an infirmary after all." Yang definitely did not look happy.

"I'm just tired. I can get sleep tonight, I just couldn't seem to fall asleep last night."

"If you're sure. Come find me if you need me, though."

"Sure, thanks Yang." Ruby let out a small yawn.

She was tiredly looking around the courtyard, drawn to a statue there in front of one of the buildings. Of course, she wasn't paying much attention when she bumped into a trolley of suitcases. One of them seemed to teeter and topple in slow motion as it began to fall off of his precarious stack, so she took it upon herself to grab and stabilize it before it would spill its contents everywhere. She was forced to grab and remove the suitcase before it tumbled the other direction, however. It tipped over and landed in her arms, creating a small puff of sparkles as the contents shifted.

"Excuse me, what's the hold up?" A girl in white appeared behind the trolley and the man inside. She circled around the other side of the pile and glared angrily at Ruby. "Are you... Thief!" The girl brought up her rapier, anger in her eyes. Ruby herself was finding it hard to care, holding a rather large suitcase in her hands, so she began to put it down. The other girl was lunging at her, after all.

"Miss Schnee, there was no-" The trolley man began, but the deed was done. The suitcase was on the ground, and Ruby was staring at the slit on the side of her corset. "Man, am I going to have to repair that?" She said, somewhat irritated. "This is supposed to be my combat outfit." She tugged at the slit, looking for any other damage. The skin underneath was unblemished. The other girl was, however, looking not at Ruby, but at the suitcase.

"Get down!" She dived for the ground and Ruby found herself on the receiving end of a rather large explosion of ice and fire. She was fine, taking the explosion itself like a champ, but her clothing did not like the resulting tumble she took afterward. She felt the rip in her clothing catch on something, maybe the trolley? And a larger gash tore open on the side of her blouse. "Oh."

"Miss Schnee, there was no thief, this young woman was simply helping prevent the luggage from toppling." The man was terribly nervous.

"Oh?" The white girl, Miss Schnee, was getting up. "Oh." She was frowning now. It seemed as though there was not too much to be said. "My apologies then, Miss. It was improper of me."

"It's fine. Ruby glanced down at her now ruined outfit. "I'll just have to find another shirt for tomorrow."

The girl was frowning. "No, this was my fault. Hold on." Out came another suitcase, this time one filled with clothing rather than explosives. Out came a coat, white with black trim. It looked almost military in appearance. "Here, I wore this when I was younger. It should fit."

Ruby nodded simply, removing her torn clothing and placing the coat over her shoulders. It fit alright, she supposed, but didn't close all the way. Only the bottom two buttons seemed to be wide enough to wrap entirely around and fasten. "Hrm..."

"That's the fashion, the top button is decorative." Ruby nodded again.

"Thank you."

"Please, don't mention it. Really, please don't." Ruby nodded and began to walk away. She was sure the other two people didn't notice the black figure on a bench slightly removed from the scene, but she gave her a nod anyways. The other girl simply went back to her book.

By the time Ruby made it to the auditorium, there was a man clad in green getting ready to speak. Ruby caught the scent of something in the air, something that she couldn't recognize. It was coming from the stage, but she couldn't tell if it was coming from the man or something else. In the meantime, she saw Vomit Boy looking rather nervous. Yang seemed to sense her intentions, and gave her a shove on her shoulder. "Hey!" She did her best to stifle the yawn in her throat.

"Oh, hey." The boy didn't look very happy to be here. "This is just really... overwhelming. All the people and all that, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get it. Anyways, I'm Ruby! Nice to meet you!" Were her eyelids drooping? She did her best to perk up as much as possible.

"Hi. The name's Jaune Arc." Jaune cracked a smile, before seeming to deflate a bit. "You don't seem too good. Are...are you alright?"

Ruby nodded, letting out a small yawn. "Sorry, I'm a little tired."

"Yeah, I get it. Airships suck, right?"

"Yeah." In front of the crowd, the man in green was getting off the stage. "Do you have any idea what he said?"

"I'm not sure, I wasn't really paying attention." Jaune looked a bit nervous. "Do you think it was important?"

"...honestly, I dunno." Ruby rubbed at one of her eyes. "Do you know where to go now?"

Jaune shrugged.

It was night once more, and she was in the world of bone and sand. Before her were those spires that had taunted her last night, right there. Not even an hour's walk away. They surrounded a large domed building, with one or two windows or doors dotting the side that she could see. But that wasn't the interesting part. No, that was right in front of her. Or rather, it was her.

There was no chain on her chest anymore. She picked weakly at the hole that remained, the skin around it open to the air. Her smock had been replaced with what felt like leather armor, hugging her chest and stomach while leaving the hole(and not an inconsiderable amount of chest and stomach) exposed. She could pass her hand through it and touch her back, and yet no light seemed to escape the depths inside. It was like her hand had disappeared only to reappear on the other side. The leather covered her arms up to her wrists, ending in loose sleeves that drooped down when she swung them down to her side. However, the bottom half came down only to her knees, hugging her body like spandex. On her feet were knee-high socks with brown, woven sandals, similar to ones she might wear on the beach, a strap between her big toe and the rest keeping it on her feet. "At least I have shoes." She allowed herself a little smile.

However, when she started moving again, she could feel... something. She stopped suddenly, skidding but not falling on the sand. It felt off, like her Aura was backwards, or something. It didn't flow the same, not in the smooth, flowing curves and lines she was used to. Instead, it thrashed and snarled at her, wanting to get out. "Okay, calm down. Breathe... breathe." The storm inside calmed a little, but not much. She could feel it seeping out, coalescing around her eyes and grasping her neck, burning in her chest and coiling in her stomach. It burned her hands and twitched her legs. It filled her with this sense of dread, like she was about to waste away in the wind.

The feeling was getting progressively worse, she could feel the small bits of sand filtering between her toes. There was no pain, just an excruciatingly slow weakness that made her want to wake up. "This is a dream," She reminded herself. "When I wake up, I'll be at home- no. Beacon Academy, a school for Huntsmen. Initiation is tomorrow. I have a... a rifle named Crescent Rose. My parents live on an... airship? No, an island. Patch. I live with my sister... Yang. My name..." A long blink. "My name is..."

"You should eat." She turned sharply, collapsing into the sand. Behind her was a man in a white coat, a large lump slung across his shoulders. His face looked like she felt: exhausted. "You'll get swallowed up at this rate." He tossed his package at her, the blanket surrounding the contents falling to the sand. It looked almost like a lizard Grimm, covered in white armor. But the smell... it didn't smell good, but it did smell desirable. Like it was another sense of smell altogether that made the still twitching lizard seem appetizing. The man was sighing. "If you die here, then we'll have problems." He seemed distracted, so she looked back down at his gift.

The smell and the feeling was getting overwhelming. She grabbed weakly at the lizard and picked it up in both hands. It was writhing there, snapping at her hands, wiggling its legs to try and escape. But that didn't matter to her. She brought the lizard's skull to her mouth, and she began to eat.

It was surprisingly not very crunchy. More of a creme egg, really.

When Ruby woke up the next morning, she felt better than she had since before she had left for Beacon. She took it as a good omen as she prepared for the day, her new-ish white coat underneath her cape. After a boring, bland breakfast and an agonizing wait, Crescent Rose was finally in her hands as the group stared out at the treetops of the Emerald Forest. "Okay, Initiation. Here comes Ruby Rose."