She's falling.

Sinking.

Drifting down through an empty black void.

The darkness surrounds her, envelopes her…

Then, a light flickers…

Eye's open.

She's standing on a beach. Feet pressing into white sand, foamy waves just barely lapping at the tips of her shoes. And before her, the pure blue water stretches out, forever.

She knows this place. It's a beach on the south end of Patch, a place she hasn't been to in years…

Is she… Is she really…

Ruby's eyes suddenly catch sight of a figure in front of her, standing knee-deep in the water.

White hair the color of freshly fallen snow, a bolero jacket and combat skirt to match, but with an inlay of bright red. And as she turns to face Ruby, a pair of eyes the color of a bright blue sky.

Home.

Weiss begins to smile, and Ruby feels her face light up. A smile like she hasn't felt in a long while.

She's moving now, feet carrying her out towards her friend, her partner.

That's when Ruby notices the water receding. Pulling out even faster than she's moving.

The water pulls out, and rises up in a great wave looming behind Weiss.

Ruby charges forward, mouth opening as she tries to call out to Weiss, tries to warn her.

But no sound escapes her lips, and Weiss reaches out with her hand, seemingly unaware of the danger behind her.

Ruby keeps going. She's almost to Weiss…

The wave crashes down upon them.

Ruby is blinded as the water knocks her off her feet and pulls her under. Wrenching her eyes open, she tries to get her bearings as the water pulls her this way and that.

Weiss is before her, half standing, half floundering, hand still outstretched.

Ruby reaches out with her own hand, fighting against the currant.

Their hands are so close… and yet she can't seem to close the distance. As if some invisible force is pulling them apart…

No. Ruby feels her eyes narrow.

Not again.

With new strength she surges forward.

Ruby's hand seizes Weiss's. She holds it in a tight grip, feeling Weiss return the grip just as hard.

And just like that, the current is gone.

They break the surface.

It's dusk now.

Ruby pulls Weiss to her feet, her partner sputtering water and shaking her now-soaked hair and clothes, looking profoundly annoyed at her predicament.

Any danger now forgotten, Ruby can now only smile and giggle. Soon Weiss has joined her.

Ruby hears a voice call out to them.

Standing back at the water's edge, she sees two figures. One Black, the other Yellow.

Blake waves out to them with her right hand and Yang calls out to them with her left hand cupping around her lips.

Ruby can see why they're each only using one hand. It's because their left and right hands are joined between them…

It's a sight that brings a wide smile to Ruby's face as she waves back.

Taking Weiss's hand, Ruby helps her partner along as they charge through the surf back to the shore.

Both girls are out of breath as they reach the shore and their teammates, Ruby almost doubled over with her hands on her knees.

A familiar hand comes to rest on her head to ruffle her hair affectionately. Ruby looks up to see her sister's bright, beaming grin, along with Blake's warm, affectionate smile. And Ruby can't help but smile right back.

Home.

She was Home.

Then the fuzzy, triangular ears on top of Blake's head twitch and the faunus looks up.

Blake points up towards the sky, and the rest of the team follows her gaze.

The sky is full of falling lights, countless glimmers falling towards the ocean below.

But then they all notice something else that's falling. A shape a bit darker and far more solid looking that a point of light.

Ruby hears Weiss gasp as they all realize that the shape is a person.

Ruby's eyes squint, trying to get a better look at the figure. It looks familiar somehow…

That's when Ruby realizes that the figure is HER.

As if that realization triggered something, Ruby suddenly feels herself fall backwards.

She reaches out to her teammates as they reach out for her, even as it seems like they're falling backwards too.

Then Ruby's vision ripples like water, and her team is gone. Replaced with nothing but an empty evening sky all around her.

She falls.

She falls through the sky. She falls through the water. She falls through the world itself and back into the dark, empty void beyond.

Dark, save for three other points of light falling with her.

Ruby desperately reaches out for those lights, trying to will herself towards them…

She falls.

They all fall.

Then…

She's laying on a beach. A beach she doesn't know.

She hears voices calling out. Voices she doesn't know.

She sees a face looking down at her. A face she doesn't know.

"Ruby!"

Ruby Rose's eyes snapped open, instincts flaring up as her hand immediately reached for a folded metal object leaning against the bed.

Then she remembered the just-becoming-familiar bed and saw the just-becoming-familiar ceiling, and her hand relaxed.

Ruby let out a breath that almost immediately turned into a long, drowsy yawn. Whatever switch controlled her 'danger sense' was promptly flipped back to 'Off'. Silver eyes became lidded once again as Ruby lazily sat up in bed, one hand absently scratching her fairly mushed hair as she glanced around the just-becoming-familiar room. Out of habit, she reached for where her scroll was resting on the bedside table, next to a large star-shaped lamp.

Then Ruby heard the door on the other side of the room creak, and her sleep-addled brain was reminded of the voice that woke her up in the first place.

Glancing over to the other side of the room, Ruby could see the door opening a crack, showing a bow with spiky, brown hair about two years younger than her peeking into the room.

"Mom said breakfast is getting cold." The boy spoke, looking a bit sheepish and apologetic for apparently waking Ruby up.

Ruby just smiled and nodded in response.

"Okay Sora, I'll be right down."

The boy brightened up at Ruby's response, nodding back and closing the door.

Only dimly aware of the muffled voice from the other side of the door saying she'd be down in a minute, Ruby picked up her scroll to check the time.

09:51

Ruby felt her grip tighten just a bit as she was reminded of the fact that she'd needed to set that time manually. Because she hadn't had a signal since…

Ruby let out a breath. Getting worked up over that wouldn't help anything.

Even so, Ruby couldn't help but turn her head to gaze out the window next to her bed.

To look outside at the just-becoming-familiar town. Down at the just-becoming-familiar beach.

And to that small, solitary island that stood just off the coast.

The island she'd washed up on almost a week ago.

~-~DESTINY ISLANDS~-~

AN: So this is something a little... different.

More to come next chapter, particularly exactly WHAT Ruby is doing on Destiny Islands...

Also, that bit at the end is my sad attempt at replicating the 'World Title Introduction' bit in text form.