3She woke up.
Ruby Rose had dreamed of many things the previous night; she had passed through the forests of Vale with little more than her semblance., Crescent Rose carefully held in hand and her mother's cloak billowing out behind her as she soared over the treetops. In the end, her dreams had always taken her to the same place; an open clearing, white with snow and surrounded by dead or dying trees. The Grimm had been there, as always, and as always she rushed forward to meet them, the thrill of battle boiled her blood and had sent shocks of excitement and glee through her. All too quickly, she ended the battle and, all too quickly, the dream followed shortly after.
The unnerving creaks and whines of the ropes that supported her bed would be what greeted her first, if her alarm hadn't gone off first. The bed itself was bog standard; she remembered her bed at home being far softer and more comfortable than this mattress, one that had been issued to every student in every dorm in Beacon Academy. She blinked her sleep away blearily, a loud yawn accompanied the gesture, as she took stock of those around her. A mess of golden hair just across from her own top bunk, draped haphazardly across the mattress. Underneath, tumult of shadows that had helped blend their inhabitants in nicely, as only the sight of her pale skin hinted at her presence. Underneath her, the slight, soft snores hinted at the last occupant of the room, nearly drowned out by those that had come from the next bunk over.
She hated and loved being awake first; she loved her sleep, though she had always caught up on it in Port's class, On the other hand, having been awake first meant she had gotten first dibs on hot, steaming water which eased her out of her drowsy state. When she would return, lilac eyes would groggily greet her silver eyes as she entered, while light blue still slept, a pillow now strategically placed over the head they belonged to. Amber eyes regarded her entrance slowly, before a smile crept up to them and greetings were exchanged.
"Alright Team RWBY, rise and shine, we aren't going to get to slaying Grimm if we can't even get out of bed."
The statement had been a joke in more ways than one; for them, there would be no Grimm for them to have slain, or at least, not ones that hadn't been crippled by Port in the few moments in his class she actively had paid attention to. Which had been more than ever were in Oobleck's class; the only challenge had been in her many failed attempts when it had come to deciphering Oobleck's rambles for notes. She had always a mind for combat class and the spars that had occurred there. Moments of thrilling battles played out before her eyes, or that she had taken an active part in. She had given it her all in so many of these, against her fellow huntsmen and huntresses, and they had almost always been the highlights of lessons at Beacon Academy.
To be focused on the present had been a hard thing for Ruby. Whether it was in the dining hall, surrounded by her friends, in the lecture halls gabbed at by professors or on the streets of Vale, where ambient noise had surrounded her and her conversations with those she had grown close to. Her mind always whirred, always wandered, and when it did, it had always been on the future. To her dream. The dream she had carried ever since the moment when she could think of the future as more than time that came after now.
She dreamed of having become a strong huntress. She dreamed of journeys that had taken her far and wide. Dreamed of places and people she hadn't met, but hoped she one day would. Dreamed of the monsters that she had slain with her mighty Crescent Rose. Dreams of how proud her mother would have been if she could've seen her daughter, who had grown into a woman in her own likeness. Dreams of days, weeks and months she traveled with her team; her partner, her sister and her sister's partner. Weiss, Yang and Blake. Dreams of the legends the three had crafted. The fame they had acquired. The fear they had struck into the hearts of all villains.
She had come to Beacon for that dream, and yet, it always seemed so far off in the days she had spent in class. The days she had wandered about, spent on baubles and little nothings. She yearned for the future. She desired to be the Ruby she had seen in her wandering, daydreaming mind. However, each day passed in contented boredom, save for those few where it seemed her dream had arrived. Days she had remembered from then on as the sparks of excitement that had lit up her time there at Beacon. Days passed with her friends on her team and in Jaune's. Days of childish delights and squandered nothingness when it came to heroics and stories that would have been worth telling.
The day had then passed, as it always did. Slow and meandering, but it had passed. She returned to her dorm room with her team, and they readied for bed. If it had been an exciting day, Ruby ended up in a fit of excitement, to jazzed to have possibly passed into slumber as she recounted the day with her team. If it had passed uneventfully, then sleep claimed her and quickly.
Because on those days, she had welcomed her sleep and the dreams they brought. Because there, as it had ever been, she had passed through the forests of Vale with little more than her semblance., Crescent Rose carefully held in hand and her mother's cloak billowing out behind her as she soared over the treetops, and then-
She was awake.
No creaks of sounds of distress were there when she had awaken. The bed was far more comfortable, as befitting a hotel for travelers in this city. The sounds and sleeping habits of her compatriots were familiar, but distinct. A shallow cut of orange hair spread across a pillow as noisy snores came from the girl, her limbs spread to and fro as they reached out for some unknown object. A nearby window was illuminating the quiet one, the only way you could notice him given his silence and stillness. A mesh of blond hair was missing, likely out and about as was often the case.
She no longer had dreams of the treetops. Of the clearing and Grimm. Of exciting adventures and tumultuous battles. Of fame and fortune and friends and struggle. Now, her dreams were of those days she had passed over so many months ago. Days she had barely paid attention to and could thus barely recall. Dreams that seemed to scratch and reach for every last detail, every last memory, as they sought out what scraps of that life they could.
After all, why dream of the future when you lived it. A life of travel with friends close to her heart. Of daily battles against the forces of evil that threatened all she held dear. Of adventure and tumultuous passings. Of places foreign and exotic that she had never seen before in her life. Of strangers and fellows she would remember for the rest of her days, now etched into her memories as personal meetings or perilous encounters. Of infamy and the knowledge that people knew her and her companions and sought them out, for good or ill.
She no longer had dreams of the future in the dead of night, nor did she daydream vague fantasies or imagined battles and travels. Then and now, the future was everything. If the rest of their day didn't see results, what would tomorrow bring. In the next few hours would they strike their next lead or would they be forced to return here, another day spent and with little to show for it. Would men like Tyrian seek them out again or, a dark thought, would Cinder finally show herself. Would her friends still be there with her the following night and those that would come. Would her uncle return, or had they seen the last of him. What of the Maidens and Relics that had so suddenly come into their knowledge, or of the dangers present with the fact that their enemies knew of them as well.
The future was clear, as was the present; it demanded her attention and focus, lest it would claim her and her friends. Or, more of her and her friends than it had, would have probably been best said. She no longer had trouble imagining it, nor did her thoughts seem so out of touch with reality. So murky and muddled that only the most fantastical imaginings of her mind could slip through.
That place in her dreams and daydreaming was now saved for the past. Of times of peace and quiet. Of days spent content in the comfort of a warm and welcoming place. Full of familiar faces and familiar days. Days spent with her friends laughing over… something, or another. Classes with Port, slept through and ignored, to the point where she no longer remembered the boisterous man's voice. Time with Oobleck that, save for those heroic moments in Mountain Glenn, were now washed away in a mist of misunderstood words. Spars that had tantalized but no longer carried meaning and battles that mocked her with promises of what she could have stopped of what could have been saved.
Days that she could not even say she largely forgot, but days she had never paid much mind to in the first place. Memories cracked and clouded by time and inattention, times spent and then discarded in favor of the future. Time with her friends and family that she could not take back, that her memory could no longer summon forth from the pit of her mind.
All given way to the future she had dreamed of, that she had rushed toward with no mind for the present or the past.
Sometimes, her mind would wander; if she had seen this coming eight months ago, foreseen these events three years ago, had known this would happen ten years ago… would this still have been the future Ruby Rose had dreamed of?
A light snort of amusement accompanied that thought.
Of course it was.
While her dreams had been fantastic, she had never been misled about what risks there were involved. Her father, uncle and sister always supported her but, well, what was always left unsaid was that they'd support any other decision she made to. Might even be happy for any other decision she made.
Her mother would've been proud no matter what she'd done. Might've been ready to rest easier if she knew her daughter wasn't following in her footsteps, seemingly now almost exactly as she had, if Qrow was any indication.
Ruby had always known her dream was dangerous. In truth, part of its appeal was the danger. The chance to get away from sleepy Patch or rise above quiet Beacon and become the sort of person she long desired to be.
The sort of person she was now.
She was a huntress. A slayer of Grimm large and small. A powerful warrior, a great ally, a good friend, a horrifying enemy and a terrible foe.
These were the thoughts that carried her from bed to the shower every day. The ideals and hopes that carried her towards the future that had come, perhaps not in the way she had wanted, but had come nonetheless. The shower no longer worked away the drowsiness of sleep, she had gotten used to sleeping light and waking easy. It now worked away at the stresses of the previous day, to make her fresh and ready for the next.
It was what she saw when she would return to the room, freshly washed and relaxed. Blue eyes, slightly drained from an early morning's work, magenta slowly opening as her noise finally forced them awake and turquoise that, late into the eve or early in the morning, never seemed to tire and never seemed to lack a smile.
All filled with that same gut feeling her own eyes shined with as every day started the same, familiar with.
"Alright Team RNJR, rise and shine. We aren't going to be beating up bad guys if we can't even get out of our hotel room."
A sense of purpose fulfilled is what continued to drive them forward. A sense of justice and a desire to see right done kept them on their track. Of memories past and friends lovingly remembered reminded them of who they were and why they dedicated themselves to this path.
Yet, for Ruby Rose, there was yet another thing that had driven her forward.
Another dream of the future that she had picked up in her months of traveling and fighting.
One perhaps even more simplistic, even more childish and more fantastical than anything she had conjured up in the days during and before Beacon. That perhaps, one day, with enough work, with enough effort and with enough time…
Maybe, just maybe, those contented days of peace she had long since passed would be her present once more.
A/N; So, I write an hour a day, sometimes more, for whatever main story I'm writing that isn't stuck in editing because of real life. Sometimes, I end up finishing a chapter or update earlier than expected, a few minutes, maybe five and, on one day, ten, and I end up going ahead and just spending that time anyway. Shorts like these might not pop up often, but they'll pop up from time to time I'm sure.
Hope you all enjoyed.
Also, I give it a day before someone points out that it's 'Days Past' without thinking about what play on words I'm getting at.