the Right Solution?
I managed to fix up as much as I could and the sun is starting to rise when I get a call from Yang.
Ruby: "Hey, Sis."
Yang: "Hey, Ruby. I'm at work, and um... One of the guys you're looking for just walked in." This genuinely scares me! So I immediately make my way back to the city and to F.E.A.S.T. as fast as I possibly can and rush in when I get there.
Ruby: "Yang! Where's Yang?" A volunteer points towards the back. "Thank you!" I head through the gym area where the homeless stay and straight for the back kitchen. When I burst through, I find Yang at the table next to... a woman in a black hoodie and grey sweat pants.
Yang: "Ah, there she is. Cinder, this is my sister." Wait what?
Ruby: "Cinder Fall?" Now that I look again, the neck of her suit can be seen peeking from her hoodie and she didn't bother covering the feet of her boots, just removing the gloves. "But I thought-?"
Cinder: "I saw the Scarlet Spider in an ad for this place. So I figured she could help me. But you're not her." Definitely from another universe, she's saying the same things Watts as been saying.
Ruby: "Wait, you're wanting Scarlet Spiders help?"
Yang: "She just wandered in out of nowhere."
Cinder: "I didn't know where else to go. I went to my penthouse only to find someone else living there... Fall Industries doesn't seem to exist... and neither does my daughter..." Her eyes are very empty. Is she telling the truth? "Sometimes... I'm not myself. I'm... someone else. And every time she's in control, I can't remember." When 'she's' in control? So this is a matter of split personality? "And now I'm here in this strange new Vale and I don't... I don't know what's happening to me! I don't know!"
Yang: "Hey, hey, hey! It's okay!"
Cinder: "It just... doesn't make any sense..." Yang gets up and pulls me aside to whisper in private.
Yang: "She's lost... I don't just mean in this whole multiverse thing. I mean in her mind... Are they all like this?"
Ruby: "Well, not exactly like this, but they all do have their own unique issues, be it mentally or physically."
Yang: "Well then, if she needs help, then maybe they all do."
Ruby: "What? Sis, no. This isn't my problem." I know it may sound cruel for me to say, but I have to heed Ozpin's warning on the dangers of the multiverse.
Yang: "Seriously? Not your problem?"
Ruby: "Sis... Their best chance at getting help is back where they came from. Which means the best thing we can do for them is sending them home."
Yang: "Best for them? ...Or for yourself?" I find it hard to argue with that. It's my fault that they're all here in the first place out my selfishness to re-perfect my life. "Look around you. This is what we do. Okay? We help people. It's what's best for them. Trust me." I know where her hearts at, but I can't just prolong this any longer than we already have. And even if I wanted to, it's not up to me. I'd have to ask what Ozpin thinks first too. Afterwards, we take some time for Yang to clean out my suit while I try to explain as much of the situation as I can to Cinder. Meanwhile, Lisa Lavender is finishing up her latest broadcast.
Lisa: "But the fact remains, Scarlet Spider is a menace! We'll be right back, after a brief word from Lance of Liberty Supplements. The only other daily fix you need."
Cameraman: "And, we're out." Afterwards, she gets a call from her informant out in the field.
Lisa: "What?" Her informant is parked by the shelter watching as the three of us leave in a F.E.A.S.T. supply truck, me wearing my suit properly again now that's perfectly clean.
Informant: "I've got on her. She's with her sister and some woman I don't know."
Lisa: "You're sure?"
Informant: "They're just leaving the shelter."
Lisa: "Alright. Don't lose her!" As she prepares to leave. Back to us, Yang pulls up in front of the Sanctum.
Cinder: "Thanks, Yang. Hope to see you again." As she opens the door and leaves. I'm to follow her when Sis speaks up.
Yang: "Hey. She trusts you. And so do I. ...I know you'll do what's right." There's really not much I can say as I still haven't really made up my mind on this matter so I just reply with something unrelated.
Ruby: "Thanks for cleaning my suit, Sis. I'll see you later." As I get out of the truck. I then lead Cinder through the Sanctum and to the undercroft. "Guys, this is Mrs. Fall-"
Cinder: "Eh, it's 'doctor'. And even then, it's 'miss'. Okay? I'm divorced." I guess I shouldn't have assumed that just because she said she had a daughter.
Ruby: "Sorry. Dr. Fall, these are my friends, Oscar and Velvet." She looks at Velvet with curiosity.
Cinder: "Scarlatina? You don't look like the one I know."
Velvet: "Okay. But I'm sure you just went through with Ruby, right?"
Cinder: "...Touche." She then walks pasts them towards the vaults when Oscar asks a random but kind of related question.
Oscar: "Do you think there are other Oscar Pine's?" We refer back to the visitors as Oscar looks back to his laptop. Cinder looks around at the other people here, when she notices Watts, his left side turned to her, among the mix.
Cinder: "Arthur?" He turns back to look at her with shock and confusion once again.
Watts: "Fall?"
Cinder: "What the hell happened to you?"
Watts: "What happened to me!? You're the zombie here!"
Cinder: "What are you talking about?"
Watts: "You died, Cinder! Years ago..." There he goes with that again. What is wrong with him?
Cinder: "Okay, I'm not sure what you're on right now, but you're talking crazy."
Mercury: "God, I love it here." Clearly enjoying himself. I take a few steps in the runes.
Ruby: "Why do you keep saying that? You can see her right there. She's not-"
Hazel: "Dead." Hazel steps up a little closer. "They're both dead. Both from their final fights... against Scarlet Spider." Everyone looks bewildered at what he just said as he continues. "The reports were all over the news. Cinder Fall the Red Succubus. Impaled by the gilder she flew around on. Then a couple of years later... came you, Arthur Watts, who later became known as Dr. Centinel. Drowned in the river, along with your device."
Watts: "Nonsense! Scarlet Spider tried to stop my fusion reactor. ...So I stopped her! I had her... by the throat! And the I..." Some realization hits his face. "And then I was here." This whole thing is filling me with major concerns. And Mercury's sudden contribution doesn't help.
Mercury: "If you think that's bad, then listen to this: I was kicking Scarlet Spider ass. She'll tell you. But then her little girlfriend caused an overload, which got me stuck in the grid. I was absorbing all sorts of data and about to become pure energy, and then... And then I..." Realization comes to him too. "Well shit... I was about to die." What the heck is up with these Spiders!? But then Merlot has to cut in too.
Merlot: "Black. I need to know. Do you know if I die?" Mercury didn't get a chance to answer when a portal opened up and Ozpin came through with some kind of golden box with glowing blue details.
Ozpin: "Oh, good. You found another one."
Ruby: "No, wait! Professor, she's not-" He's ignores me and portals Cinder into the final space in the hall entrance to the right of the vaults. "It's okay. Um..." Then I actually notice the box with him. "What is that?"
Ozpin: "It's one of our ancient relics. The Relic of Correction. I've already trapped your corrupted spell inside of it." Sure enough, you can see inside and the pentagon cube containing the spell can be seen in there. "And once I've completed the proper ritual, it will reverse the spell, and send them all back to their universes."
Watts: "And then what? We perish?"
Mercury: "Yeah, I think I'll pass on that. Thanks."
Cinder: "Let me out of here! Ruby!" Clearly afraid. After hearing everything that's happened to them... I've finally decided what I need to do! But first... I've gotta get through to him.
Ruby: "Professor... We can't send them back. Not yet." He looks in disbelief. As if saying 'are you freaking serious?'
Ozpin: "And might I ask why?"
Ruby: "Because some of these guys are gonna die."
Ozpin: "Rose... It's their fate."
Ruby: "Come on, Professor. Have a heart." He continues to keep a very stern face as he makes his point.
Ozpin: "In the grand calculus of the multiverse, their sacrifice will mean infinitely more than their lives." How can he say that without feeling guilty that their fated to perish!? If I didn't know this I would let it go. But now that I know, and after what happened with Neo, I can't possibly send them home to die without feeling guilty myself... "I'm sorry, Ruby. If they die... they die." He proceeds to channel his magic into the relic, causing some mechanisms to move around. As he's doing so, all the visitors look on with fear. Worried that there isn't anything else that we can do.
Cinder: "Ruby!" I get an idea to do something... It's a dumb idea... But it's all I've got, so it's all I can do. The mechanisms stop and a button appears on the box. Just as he's about to press it... I grab it from afar with my web. Ozpin stops and looks over, knowing I'm gonna do something stupid.
Ozpin: "Don't-!" I pull the relic over to me and then zap Ozpin with my magic shooter, trapping him in Hazel's vault.
Oscar: "Dude, what are you doing!?"
Velvet: "Go on and get out of here! Go!" She stands defensively as I run off, grabbing my mask from the table on the way out.
Ozpin: *sigh*"This is why I never had kids." He just walks the through the barrier like it's not even there. Where as Hazel just bumps his face when he tries to follow afterwards. Outside, I shoot a web and try to flee, but a portal opens right in front of me, teleporting me back on the top of a car near the Sanctum, courtesy of Ozpin. I jump off and turn around to find an annoyed Ozpin at the Sanctums doorstep with his arms folded. "Stop making this harder on yourself and just give me the box."
Ruby: "No!" I tried to shoot him again with the magic shooter but... nothing happens. And then the shooter disappears! I swing away afterwards, but just as I fire my next web,Ozpin creates two portals in one line, which attach the web's end to my foot, actively immobilizing me. Ozpin conjures a whip to grab and yanks me down, then finally palm strikes my stomach that... turns me into a ghost!? The next thing I know I'm floating in the air, seeing my body, basically stuck in time in a position of being pushed back, and Ozpin is still moving perfectly. "Oh my gosh! I'm dead!"
Ozpin: "Worry not, I just separated your astral form from your physical one."
Ruby: "Wait... my astral... What!?" He goes to grab the box from my bodies hand... it decides to play keep away and move it's arm. And what's even weird is that I can still feel my Spider Sense tingling in my astral form as this happens.
Ozpin: "How are you doing that?" He tries again, but it moves again.
Ruby: "I have no idea..." He keeps trying, but my body is not making it easy for him, and my Spider Sense are going crazy the whole time.
Ozpin: "You should not... be able to... do that!"
Ruby: "This feels amazing..." But despite that, I can't stay like this forever. So I swim through the air and back into my body. Once I reconnect with my body, I immediately fall back onto the pavement. Followed up with quick recovery. "That might've been one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me, but don't ever do that again." I proceed to swing away, to which Ozpin sends his cloak after me. It follows me for a few blocks until it finally reaches and grabs me by my shoulders, holding me in place in mid air. "What the!? Hey! Get off of me!" Ozpin reaches us soon enough. The cape tosses me aside, and as I fly aimlessly, Ozpin twists his hand and I fly through... some kind of crack in reality? Now I feel like I'm falling in an opposite direction, as reality around me warps beyond recognition. Ozpin follows me and tries to trap me through creating obstacles from various objects and structures. I evade them all, but as soon as I enter open space, I am caught by surprise and hit by Ozpin's combo-attack. Then a random train hits me, and I drop the relic. Just as Ozpin is about to intercept it, I web it back to myself, followed up by jumping on top of the train. "What is this place!?"
Ozpin: "The Mirror Dimension... A place in which I am in control!" He warps reality in which parts of the city and what looks like trees native to the Emerald Forest are both below AND above us as this train continues flying through the air.
Ruby: "Professor, please! There has to be another way!"
Ozpin: "No! You listen to me! You need to realize that in the multiverse, there are an INFINITE number of people who know that Ruby Rose is the Scarlet Spider! And if that spell gets loose, they're all coming here!"
Ruby: "Yeah, I get it! Okay! But we can't just send them home to die! It just isn't right!"
Ozpin: "And that right there is the problem! Let this be a lesson to you! Sometimes doing the right thing isn't always the right way! In the grand scheme of things, the true path to take is only what's best for the world!"
Ruby: "Except you're wrong! I know for certain that doing the right thing is always the right way! It's just all about how you do it! And I know I can save them if you just let me try!"
Ozpin: "Except it's their fate! And you can't change that anymore than you can change who they are!"
Ruby: "But what if we could? What if we can change their fate?" Ozpin's now clearly had enough and starts mainpulating the dimension once again, multiplying the train and creating a cage of them. "Whoa! What are you doing!?" I feel like the trains also getting longer as I try to run off. "I'm not giving you the-whoa!" I almost trip on my way through the train rings. Ozpin creates a portal loop, making me fall endlessly as the his cloak springs into action once again, fighting me for the artifact. The I stop myself from falling by webbing myself to the cape. "Hey! Give me that back!" Intent on ending the skirmish as soon as possible, Ozpin pulls out a whip and tries to pull the relic and the cloak to him. However, I refuse to let go of the webbing, and the portal loop folds in on itself and shatters the mirror dimension, sending everything flying in chaos. Ozpin and his cloak dive after the relic, while I take a while to land on a relatively stable piece of land and notice some familiar structures around myself. "Wait! Isn't that an Archimedean Spiral? That just means the Mirror Dimension is just warped geometry! And that gives me an idea!" By using my skill in proper geometry to work around the warped sense of it, I start webbing several chunks of the reality around me together. Meanwhile, Ozpin has managed to grab ahold of the relic.
Ozpin: "It's over Ruby! I'll come pick you up when it's over." He opens up another portal leading to the runes in the real world. But too bad for him...
Ruby: "Hey, Oz! Never thought I'd say this! But you know what cooler than magic?" With the webs I've placed, I've pulled together my own Archimedean Spiral that closes around the Sorcerer Supreme, immobilizing him completely in my webs. I then hang upside down between him and the portal. "Math!"
Ozpin: "Don't do this..." I web the relic over to me, and then do the same with his ring thing right off his fingers to keep him from escaping and stopping me. "Ow..."
Ruby: "I'm sorry, Sir, but..." I flip off my web through the portal into the runes, before looking back to him. "I have to try." He continues to look in disbelief as the portal closes, trapping him in his web trap in the Mirror Dimension. Afterwards, Oscar and Velvet comes to check on me.
Oscar: "What the heck just happened?"
Ruby: "I just had a fight with Professor Ozpin and totally won!"
Oscar: "What!?"
Ruby: "And look. I stole his ring thingy." When I show them the ring, Oscar takes it and puts it on. "I was swinging through the city and was sent into this..." As I let down my hood and take off my mask. "crazy mirror world. And managed to trap him in a huge web and-"
Velvet: "But hold on. Where is he?"
Ruby: "Oh. I've trapped him in the Mirror Dimension, but I'm not sure how long it will last." I may have taken the ring that lets him open portals, but he knows that place better than I do, so when my webs eventually dissolve, he may be able to find a way out himself, even without the ring. The portals are probably just the easy way out. But that still won't be for a while. Now onto more important matters when Watts intervenes.
Watts: "You could've just left us to die. We'd all be out of your hair and wouldn't be your problem anymore. But instead you saved us? Why?"
Velvet: "Because that's just who she is." Thank you! Velvet of all people would understand why I can't just let them go without doing something to help where it may count. Now to business!
Ruby: "I think I can help you guys. I'm sure that if I can fix what happened to you, then when you go back, things could be different and you might not die fighting... well... me." As scary as it sounds, it is kinda true.
Mercury: "And what exactly does 'fix us' mean?"
Ruby: "Don't worry. It'll be easy with our advanced technology-"
Cinder: "I can help you. Not to brag but... I'm something of a scientist myself." I'm not exactly sure how to react but I am glad there is someone here who's willing to help me out here. "Watts knows what I'm capable of."
Watts: "Fix? You mean like a dog? I refuse." Well aren't you still pleasant.
Ruby: "I obviously can't guarantee anything, but at the very least, it means you'll get to go home and actually get a second chance. Something I've always believed is worth fighting for."
Merlot: "Maybe in your feeble young mind, but trust me when I say that, in my experience, when you try to fix people, there are always consequences."
Ruby: "I mean, I am only offering it as a suggestion. I'm not gonna force you to do this, so you don't have to come... But I also didn't know that you could talk." He just tilts his head in recognition of that statement. "But I do have to warn you, that if you stay here... *sigh* You will have to deal with the wizard instead."
Merlot: "Ah, so either we go along or die. Not much of a choice, is it?"
Hazel: "I just want to go home."
Mercury: "Well, I for one don't want to die. Nor do I want my death to be at the hands of a knock-off Wizard of Oz. So what's your plan?" Well, I kind of have everything in place. There's only one thing here that I haven't planned for yet: the Relic of Correction. As far as we know, it's the one thing that can send them back, so if things go south they may try to destroy it to stop me from doing so. And that would be trouble for everyone else too, since destroying the box may release the spell and basically break the multiverse.
Ruby: "Don't worry. I have everything under control." I huddle Velvet and Oscar together for a whispered chat. "What are we gonna do about this thing?"
Velvet: "I guess we just find some place safe to hide it, right?"
Oscar: "Well, that's obviously logical." We don't have time to find a perfect hiding place. We have to improvise.
Ruby: "You guys have to take it."
Velvet: "What?"
Ruby: "Look, if something goes wrong, I'll call you, you push the button, and it'll all be over."
Velvet: "No way! We're going with you."
Ruby: "What? No! You guys can't come with me. You guys have done enough already."
Oscar: "But we're in this together!"
Ruby: "I know that, Oscar. But I can't do this knowing you guys are in danger. So, for me, Velvet, please just take it. Okay?" She hesitates for a second before finally begrudgingly agreeing.
Velvet: "Fine." She takes the box.
Ruby: "Thank you."
Velvet: "But I swear, Ruby. If I don't hear from you at all, I'm pushing the button."
Ruby: "Okay." She turns to our guests whilst holding up the box for them all to see.
Velvet: "And I will do it!" They all stand there stunned by her bravery.
Mercury: "Yeah, we all believe you, little bunny."
Velvet: "Call me 'little bunny' again, and I'm definitely doing it." He just puts his hands up in surrender.
Mercury: "Roger that, V."
Merlot: "No way that's her girlfriend. No way." In a amused but also kind of disbelieving tone.
Ruby: "She'll do it."
Oscar: "Certainly. She will."
Ruby: "Okay. Be safe you two." I give Velvet a quick kiss before I turn to Oscar and we do our best friends hand shake, but by the end of it... some green sparks come from Oscars hand.
Oscar: "Whoa..." He walks away while in shock and awe.
Velvet: "Just please be careful. Okay?"
Ruby: "Same to you." They grab their stuff and leave before I turn to all the vaults to ask one last time. "So... who's coming with me?" Cinder's made up her mind. She and Arthur just glare at each other. Hazel and Merlot don't say anything either, but they don't really do much to object either. And as for Mercury.
Mercury: "Well I'm in. But... If this goes south, and your little experiment blows up in your face... then get ready to be fried from the inside out."