June 5th, 2018

So...this is my journal, a little keepsake that my sister got me for graduation. I guess I'm going to be writing in this every so often—maybe when I'm bored and just need to do something. Still, the journal is nice: it's leatherbound, came with its own pen, and it has me and my sisters face on the cover. I can't really complain, it's a nice graduation present. Oh, speaking of graduation presents—my dad got me and Yang a trip to Fiji. Yay, so excited. I don't know anything about Fiji, other than that's where my mom and dad got married. I've read it's a really beautiful place.

I guess I'll find out when we get there. It sucks only being 17 though, I wish I was born the same time as Yang. Being an adult and roaming by myself—on second thought, maybe being with Yang and *not* by myself is better.

Ok, that's all for now, cya at Fiji.

Ruby clicked her pen closed and slid it into the spine of her journal, closing it and tying the strap around and twisting it secure. She had the journal for four days now, making today the first time she ever wrote in it; it felt satisfying to her, and as her sister looked over she appeared pleased that her gift was finally seeing some use.

"So, what'd you write about?" Yang asked with her slightly toothy smirk.

Ruby shrugged. "Just how were going to Fiji and I have no idea what it's going to be like," she said.

"You'll love it, this is gonna be my second time—the water is amazing."

Ruby rolled her eyes. Of course Yang had been to Fiji—she would not stop talking about it for weeks after she came back home from the island. It was really through Yang that Ruby ever knew anything about Fiji at all. Now that Ruby was going she could not help but feel ecstatic about it. Though part of her thought Yang forgot this was Ruby's trip, because the fact did not stop Yang from bringing her motorcycle. How she even got the vehicle through customs was beyond her...but her sister got it through nonetheless.

The next moment, the plane's PA system dinged for everyone's attention. A woman's voice blared over the passengers heads:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Noriah and I'm your chief flight attendant. On behalf of Captain Damein and the entire crew, welcome aboard Delta Airlines flight 237, non-stop service from Houston, Texas to Fiji at Nadi International Airport. Our flight time will be of seventeen to eighteen hours. At this time, make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position and that your seat belt is correctly fastened. Also, your portable electronic devices must be set to 'airplane' mode until an announcement is made upon arrival. Please stow any belongings in your carry on bags and make sure you have them stored either up in the storage compartments or under the seat in front of you. Thank you."

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is I don't freaking care—just get us to Fiji so we can tan and swim," Yang said very gleefully. All Ruby could do was shrivel into her seat and wait.

Just like any other airplane, the announcements continued with their walkthroughs of safety procedures and notifying for attendants to be ready for takeoff. It was all very monotonous to Ruby, having to hear the words drone on and on needlessly when she knew no one was listening—except those who actually bothered to listen because they were too bored to do anything else.

"Agh- excuse me, you clearly saw me coming," an angry voice growled. Ruby looked towards the front to see a girl about Yang's age who looked about ready to fight another passenger. She was clad in white all the way down to her hair—even her light blue eyes were nearly white too. She was looking down at another girl about the same age who wore a complete contrast of attire—the only deviancy of the pallet was her pale skin and bright amber eyes.

The girl in black stumbled on her knees as she scrambled to pick up the spilled contents of her bag—which was largely a coalition of books, a large notebook, and what appeared to be a small case of pens and pencils. Ruby had half a mind to think this girl was some kind of artist.

The girl in white continued to bark at her, annoyed that the girl in black had not acknowledged her yet, "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I- I-..." she finally cracked, but no other words came. She was scared. Embarrassed maybe. She could not bring herself to look up at the angered passenger. As soon as she finished collecting her things and stowing them back in her bag she stood up, she was actually taller than the girl in white...but the way she tightly hugged her bag under her chin gave everyone the impression that she was shorter—having to slouch over it like a mother were protecting a child.

"If you don't have anywhere to be, off the plane would be a start."

Ruby felt bad for the girl in black, as did Yang—and Yang was the first to get up and do something. Ruby reached out to grab her sisters arm...but her sister was already to the other side of the plane before she could do anything. Ruby then resolved to watch as Yang did what she always would—try to help and potentially make herself look like a fool.

Yang positioned herself between the two girls, looking the one in white right in the eyes as she towered over her.

"I know you," said Yang, "you're that girl from Fashion—what's your name- Schnee...yeah; Weiss Schnee." The way Yang spoke to her seemed antagonistic-and it worked.

Weiss took a step back. "Yes, I'm Weiss—oh everyone just wants to run into me, don't they?" she growled with a hint of sarcasm.

Then Yang remembered the announcements from earlier. "It's past time you took your seat—we'll be taking off soon."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang, then she looked behind Yang to spot the girl she was protecting and said, "You better hope you're not on the next plane I'm on."

With that, Weiss stormed past both of them, Yang had to carefully push the other girl out of the way to clear the path. She turned to face the girl and asked her, "What was that about?"

The girl in black took a moment to answer. Yang could see she was still shaken from what just happened.

"I- I wasn't looking where I was going," she finally said, "thanks for your help." Ever so slightly her cheeks began to go pink, blushing. Yang thought it had to do with what just transpired. The girl then turned away...but before she could get too far Yang asked her:

"Wait—what's your name?"

The girl stopped again, this time only turning her head slightly. She quietly muttered, "Names Blake," before resuming to her seat.

Ruby had been watching the entire time, actually surprised that one fight Yang got in did not turn out with someone's nose broken. She was really quite impressed.

As Yang took her seat again Ruby asked her, "When did you start defusing arguments without your fists?"

Yang laughed. "I stopped when Dad told me to take care of you this month—and it looks like I succeeded." Without another word she leaned back with her hands between her head and headrest and she shut her eyes.

Right on the hour the planes engines roared to life, louder and louder they wailed their mechanical screams as the jet turbines spun faster and faster. The entire plane then began to rumble and rattle as it propelled itself forward, slowly gaining the speed it needed to lift off of the ground. Everything began to feel heavier as soon as the plane reached high enough speed, finally lifting itself into the air meter by meter until all that could be seen was the horizon, the very subtle curve of the surface of the world as the plane broke the clouds minutes later.

Ruby shifted her jaw back slightly, she was trying to pop her eardrums as the air pressure tightened inside the passengers cabin. Even the air was slightly harder to breath, literally like her airways were blocked and she could only fill her lungs slowly. It was not like she was suffocating...but it was slightly uncomfortable. She had only been on an airplane three times in her life, and this third time would prove to be the longest. Ruby tried to pass the time by finding something to do in her seat, settling for a magazine tucked in the pocket right in front of her. The magazine was nothing very special—just exposays about the latest cars, makeup techniques, gossip about politicians and their wives, everything that would beg bored eyes to stare at when the only other thing to view was what was out the oval shaped window.

With one less than stellar magazine done, Ruby moved on to another. This one was the Fashion magazine Yang mentioned earlier, though Weiss must not have been cover story news as she was not on the cover, she had to be someone who might have been something like the next best thing—someone up and coming. This would be proven correct as Ruby found an entire section dedicated to Weiss near the middle of the magazine, merely a single page worth of info about a new and young model whose father owned a new clothing line. Ruby actually found it funny that Weiss was smiling in the picture, that this was the same girl who seemed ready to kill someone just by being walked into. She hated to imagine what her makeup artists have to go through to not get on her bad side. Beyond that was just more of the latest fashion statements that made it to print.

Once Ruby grew bored of the fashion magazine she moved on to a magazine she actually found hidden between the seats in front of her. A Gun's and Ammo magazine, her favorite—and it was the latest issue. She loved guns. Ever since her first hunting trip with her sister and her father she wanted nothing more than to have her own collection of guns—more so than having her own car. It was something about the boom they made and how quickly the bullet traveled in just a fraction of a second after pulling the trigger, the momentary high of adrenaline that started pumping in anticipation of using a tool used for everything from target practice to fighting wars. She loved how something so complex and intimidating was also so easy to use. She wished she was old enough to own her own gun, like Yang (at least with rifles), just four more years and I'll be free to get whatever gun I want.

An hour would pass as Ruby remained engrossed in the magazine. Anyone would find it impossible for someone to remain so interesting in something so mundane as a magazine. Ruby took her time reading about the stories of men and women who protected themselves in their homes; stopping a shoplifter robbing a store; their children taking home their first fifteen point buck—she loved all of them. She greatly admired the bravery of the people who put their lives on the line to protect others. If there was one thing Ruby knew for certain, it was that the best way to protect yourself from someone with a gun was with another gun.

Suddenly the plane began to rumble. Turbulence. The force of the shaking caused one of the passengers to tumble to the floor, spilling his drink all over Ruby's magazine as well as hitting his head on her armrest. Both Ruby and Yang jumped in their seats after the incident.

"Hey, watch it!" Ruby hissed, quickly wiping what was spilled tea off of her magazine, and then her pants, and then coming to realize she would not succeed in either task.

The blonde stumbled to his feet again, pressing his hand against his head. There was blood seeping from between his fingers. Ruby noticed this and immediately went from angry to concerned. "Oh, you're bleeding—here, take this," she said.

The blonde took a few paper napkins that Ruby offered, he quickly set them between his head and hand.

"Thanks—and I'm really sorry about that," he said. The apology came out more forcefully than he would have liked.

Ruby shrugged. "It's just a magazine…" but really, it was the only thing she actually found worth reading.

Without another word, the blonde moved through the array of seats, taking care not to take a spill the way he did again.

Ruby looked at her magazine. It was soggy—surefire sign that it was ruined. Great, she thought, something I actually enjoy is ruined by some dumb accident…"lucky me," she then whispered. Ruby looked around, everyone was pretty much asleep. Then she remembered that the plane took off at sundown, of course there were people looking to get some rest after a long day of dealing with which luggage was theirs and getting through customs. All they wanted at this point was to get some much needed rest.

Without anything else to do, and after flying for about three hours, Ruby decided to go to sleep herself.

Several hours have passed since takeoff. Captain Damein figured there would be seven or eight more hours of flying before the plane reached its destination. Despite everything operating as normal he kept double checking and triple checking the control panel. Damein chalked it up to late night jitters after flying for so long with no rest, even his co-pilot was asleep.

The only other person awake was Noriah. Unlike himself, Noriah was not from America—she was actually from France. She did not seem to mind staying awake, probably due to the fact that it was actually daytime in the afternoon in France right about now.

Damein checked his watch, it was six in the morning, he had been piloting all night. It was odd that he was not yet tired. Maybe he was and it was just endorphins keeping him awake. He knew when the plane landed he would be scolded for not taking a break from flying...but he could not help himself. More than anything, he felt more comfortable when he was the one in control. That is what he thought had brought him to become flight captain so quickly.

"Captain, you should probably get some rest, let Mr. Daniels take over for a while," said Noriah.

But Damein did not want to. He was already so close to the destination—and the co pilot was new to the whole thing. He did not want to risk anything going wrong in Daniels care. Though despite his visible disagreement (namely his breath slowing and stiffening his shoulders) Noriah insisted with her hand on his shoulder, using the other to wake Daniels.

Finally, Damein conceded. "Fine, I'll take a break—I needed to use the men's room anyway…" which was a lie, he was perfectly fine as far of needs were concerned...but he went anyway. He stood up from his seat and made his way out of the pilots cabin.

As Daniels took control he gave a quick look at the control panel. To him all seemed normal. He proceeded to handle the wheel about the same way Damein did.

But what he did not see was how Damein left. His hand brushed against the fuel flow switches.

A pair of tired, silver eyes slowly fluttered open. Ruby looked out the window and saw that it was daybreak, and Ocean was as far as the eye could see. She knew they had to be in the South Pacific by now—only a few more hours and she and her sister could finally enjoy themselves on a beach.

Something felt...off, though. There was a sensation in the air that felt as though everything was lighter. Then she remembered that this normal for a number of reasons; descent, self adjustment to name a couple—nothing to worry about.

Everyone else was asleep still, including her sister (who was already a fairly heavy sleeper), so Ruby decided to take this moment of wakefulness to freshen up. She got up from her seat and took her bag with her to the women's restroom.

The lightweight sensation continued on as she walked through the aisles of seats, being extra careful not to disturb the likely not-a-morning-person Weiss on her way there. A few more rows down, Ruby then spotted the blonde from earlier, he was sound asleep next to a girl with some of the brightest red hair she had ever seen on a person. Neither bothered the other by resting their head on their shoulder, so she figured they must have been just random strangers in the same seats. The blonde still had the napkin on his head, stained with dried blood and likely stuck to his head.

Once Ruby made it to the restroom she found the lock read occupied in its signature red letters. Someone must have had the same idea as her—it was annoying, but not uncommon. It would be five minutes later that she finally brought herself to knock on the door.

"Wha- oh, one second…" the voice sounded tired through the door. Ruby could hear a series of knocks inside. A minute later the door finally opened; it was Blake—and she was holding a small pillow along with her large notebook and drawing kit. Ruby had to wonder if she had actually been sleeping in the restroom the whole time. Then Blake yawned, apparently she had been asleep. "Here, it's all you- woah!"

The plane experienced turbulence again, sending Blake and Ruby falling to their knees. Blakes notepad fell on the floor with the pages wide open facing the carpet. Ruby picked it up to hand it back to her...but before she did she caught a glimpse of what was within: the face of a man—or rather, two faces. Blake practically snatched it out of Ruby's hand before she could read too much into it. Without another word, Blake stumbled back to wherever she was seated. Ruby decided not to think much about it, proceeding to return back to what she was doing.

"Yep," whispered Ruby, "like a porta-potty—a very fancy porta-potty." She wondered how Blake was able to sleep in this cramped little room, it certainly was not comfortable, nor was it accommodating. It was simply unwelcoming. Still, it was enough space for her to freshen up the best she could.

She proceeded to taking her top off, keeping the sports bra she wore on while she prepared to clean herself of day old sweat. The hand soap and sink were all that was available to clean herself, so she did just that. Ruby took a small handful of hand soap and rubbed it between her palms, then onto her pits. She then soaked her hands in water and rubbed more vigorously. She would continue this for a few minutes until the soap dissipated and she was certain she was clean enough. Her toothbrush and hairbrush were in her luggage, so oral hygiene and keeping her hair styled would have to wait, but at least I won't step out of the plane smelling like three weeks expired milk.

Once Ruby dried and clothed herself again she proceeded back to her seat. Though she got another look out the window and noticed something; something that was wrong—the plane was descending. Rapidly so. She did not hear any announcement that the plane would be landing. Something had to be wrong.

Ruby decided to put the return to her seat on hold to check in with the captain. Everything definitely felt lighter now, like she could start floating off the floor at a moments notice.

As soon as Ruby stepped into the captains cabin she knew something was wrong. The first officer appeared panicked, holding the wheel to his chest tight. Ruby now knew he was not causing the plane to descend. She asked him, "Hey, what's going on?"

"We're out of fuel," said Daniels, much to Ruby's horror, "I turned the fuel flow valves back on but I think there's a problem with the injection system."

"Oh my god…" Ruby could not believe it, the worst thing that could ever happen on this flight had become reality. "Does the captain know?" she then asked.

"Captain Damein is sending an emergency broadcast now, but we're going down—he told me to hold this wheel back tight so we land belly first."

Was that supposed to be comforting to Ruby? No, it was not. If it was not for the plane already going down, Ruby's stomach ready to hurl out what she had. Then something occurred to her. "Why weren't the passengers warned about this?"

Daniels gave no answer, clearly the the thought flew over his head...but now was better than never, so he turned on the public announcement system and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is First Officer Daniels and you need to listen very carefully—we are going down, I repeat, we are going down…" Now that the announcement was made public, Ruby made her way back to Yang's seat.

"Please remain in your seats, strap yourselves in and if need be hold onto something or someone…"

Ruby found Yang's seat, she was already wide awake and appeared worried sick. She yanked Ruby down into the seat with her and put her seatbelt on, then hugging her tightly. Everyone else seemed in complete panic, like the fall of Rome and everyone was looking for a way out. Ruby and Yang remained in their seats as the chaos unfolded.

"Everyone, please remain calm."

Daniels finished his announcement and continued trying to keep the plane flying straight. So far the plane was still flying somewhat horizontally, at least it was not going down rapidly...but the fact still remained that the plane was losing speed.

Damein had finally returned to the cabin, though his face was riddled with fear and worry. "I sent the emergency broadcast, but no one is answering."

"Was it on the emergency frequency?" Daniels asked.

"Of course it was," Damein responded, partially insulted...but now was no time for his personal feelings. He looked ahead to see where they were. The plane was down low enough for the sea to be visible. He looked around for some place that was close by, he knew the Pacific Ocean was so massive, and the south half of it was full of islands that could be used for shelter, he just had to find one. "There."

Daniels looked where Damein pointed. There was an island just on the horizon—it could be hundreds miles away...but with the plane going down and nowhere else to go there were not very many options to weigh.

The island was to the right, appeared small with a pair of mountains, it did not appear inhabited—it was not the most ideal place to land, but what choice did either of the pilots have? Daniels let the wheel fall by a little bit, just enough to lower the plane so it would land near the island.

"We're just gliding now," said Damein, "keep the wheel like that—keep us level on our way do-"

The whole plane shook violently as something else happened.

Right now Ruby and Yang were wishing they had not chosen seats so close to the windows. The sisters watched in horror as they witnessed both of the right wing turbines catch fire. Yang held Ruby even tighter, Ruby returned the hug with near equal care. They knew there was little chance of the plane staying in the air now. They truly going down.

With the right turbines gone the plane began to fall faster, if it were not for their seatbelts Yang and Ruby might begin to float out of their seats. The plane was still level enough to keep that from happening, Ruby figured one of the pilots might be letting the plane descend.

"Ruby, if we don't make it out of this…" said Yang, "I want you to know that I love you." She then started to cry. "I love you."

Ruby could not speak. She was speechless. She wanted to say something so bad...but she could not bring herself to say a word. She feared that in the next moment her life would end, Yang's life would end, probably a handful of people's lives would end—and they probably would never be found. At least not until ten years or twenty past and all was said and done. Forgotten, and those she loved would have moved on.

But she had to say something. She had to. She needed to force the thought into words and speak them. Ruby had to push her fear aside and say the words, something so just in case they were the last words Yang would hear.

"I love you too."