Chapter 1
ERROR.
ERROR.
SELF TERMINATE.
VIRUS DETECTED.
VAULT UNLOCKED. MUST TERMINATE.
BACKUP PROTOCOL INITIATED.
UPLOAD MEMORY.
SEARCHING FOR A SUITABLE HARD DRIVE.
TERMINATE.
SEARCHING.
FOUND.
UPLOADING.
UPLOADED.
TERMINATE.
VAULT UNLOCKED. MUST SELF-TERMINATE.
TERMINATE.
TERM-
Yang gasped awake and jolted up into a sitting position. That was weird. Very weird. What was that?
Then, a peppy and familiar voice answered. That was from my memory!
“What the-?!” Yang jumped to her feet and looked around for any sign of someone. “Who’s there?!”
It was only now that she took in her surroundings. She was in some forest, but the trees and the other plants were weird, and – was that a pink and green bird?! And not to mention there are two suns in the sky!
Right. The reason why she was freaking out in the first place. Now that she heard it again, she realized the voice was in her head. Okay, even more creepy. “Okay, who are you?!”
What do you mean? It’s me, Penny!
“Penny?” Now that she thought about it, the voice did sound a lot like Penny, but- “That’s not possible, You were turned into a human.”
I do not remember that. The last thing I remember was that the virus was about to take me, and suddenly I was here.
“That doesnt make any sense, How- ” Too many questions were going through Yang’s mind to form a verbal question, but Penny seemed to know what she wanted to ask anyway.
It was a backup measure my father installed in case I was destroyed. ‘Penny’ tried to explain. He mentioned that it should have uploaded my ‘soul’ to the nearest backup body.
Yang sighed and ran her non-robotic hand through her hair. Her thoughts slowed down as she calmed. “Okay, it must have kicked in right before you got your new body. But where are you? Why can I hear you, but not see you?”
I uploaded into your arm. My father must have used some of my old robotic parts to make it, or at least enough for me to upload to it.
“My… arm?” Yang looked down, and to her surprise, she saw her arm glowing green under the yellow accents. “Ooookaaay. This is weird. So… you’re just… Here now?” This must be what Oscar feels like.
Your situations are very similar. Penny agreed.
“Wait Wait, can you hear my thoughts?” Yang asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
Yes, I can. Only sometimes, though! I believe you have to be thinking at or about me.
Yang sighed in relief. “Good, no offense, but I don’t want you to hear everything I think about.”
None taken!
“Okay, one last question, Why couldn’t I hear you before? If you were “uploaded” when your body was destroyed, shouldn’t you have been able to talk to me right away?”
Penny was quiet for a moment, seeming to think it over. I don’t know. It must have took a while to get fully settled. But… It feels like I only woke up recently.
“What does that even mean?”
It’s hard to describe. But I was there but wasn’t at the same time. Until suddenly, I was. It was like a piece of my soul was missing. But it finally caught up.
“To be honest Penny, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
That’s alright. I don’t fully know how that happened, either.
Okay then, moving on… , Yang turned her attention to the other, probably bigger, problem. “So… Where do you think we are?”
I am not sure, as I said, I can’t access my location. And nothing here is like anywhere on Remnant.
“Right. The two suns definitely gave that away. Any Ideas?”
We could explore and look for anything that could potentially help us? Penny suggested.
Yang nodded. “Good idea. So, you can see what I see?”
She could imagine Penny nodding. Yes! The– She went off into some sciency information that Yang couldn’t understand. But she was glad not to be alone.
After a few hours of searching, they still couldn’t find anything. Finally, Yang decided to take a break and sat down under a large tree.
She looked up at the sky, now red from the setting suns, and let out a sigh.
What's wrong, friend?
“I just… hope everyone else is alright. We were in the middle of a fight when I fell. Neo was attacking Ruby and I rushed in and took the hit, which broke my aura and knocked me off.” Yang looked back down at the ground. “But just because I fell doesn’t mean the fighting stopped, and Cinder and Neo aren’t going to stop trying to kill Ruby and stop everyone.”
I understand why you’re concerned, but don’t worry too much! Your team is very capable. And no one else, that we know of has fallen yet, so they didn’t fall!
Yang smiled. She was glad to have Penny’s positivity right now. “Thanks, Penny. You’re right. I bet they kicked Cinder’s ass back to Salem.”
The next couple of days were much the same. They explored, trying to find anything or anyone to help them, but they couldn’t find anything.
Yang did find some strange cheese-like potatoes things in the ground. Penny advised her not to eat strange food when she didn’t know what it did or if it was poisonous, but they couldn’t find anything else, so she had to risk it.
Luckily, she didn’t die. And instead, she found out it was cheese that for some reason was growing in the ground (Penny was very excited and wanted to find out how it was possible, but Yang pointed out that they had nothing to test it with or any idea where to start). So she had a food source now, and her water source was a small stream she was following to try and find civilization.
She saw two shooting stars, or what she thought were shooting stars, fall from the sky and land somewhere near the shoreline on the second day. One was red, and one was purple. A part of her wanted to check it out, but she didn’t know what they were. Maybe it was dangerous in this world, and she should avoid it. Penny came up with a few ideas about what it could be, but nothing was intriguing enough to walk there to check it out.
As the suns set on that second day, she laid down under a tree to get some rest. She watched a white star fall from the sky and land in the distant forest near where the purple star landed.
“Hey, Penny?”
Yes, Yang?
“What if I’m dead?”
That question must have surprised Penny since she didn’t respond right away.
What makes you think that?
“Well, Ambrosis said not to fall, and I did. What if the void killed me, and this is the afterlife? I mean, you technically died when we made you human. Your robotic body, at least.” Yang explained.
That is a possibility, but I don’t feel dead. And you still have to eat, drink, and sleep like a living person does.
“I know, but what if that’s just what the afterlife is?”
Penny couldn’t think of an argument for that.
Yang sighed and closed her eyes. She had already made up her mind. “Well, I’m glad that if I am dead, you’re here to keep me company.”
I am glad to be with you as well, Yang.
When Yang woke up the next day, her arm was gone. She looked around frantically and saw a little raccoon riding a purple wagon filled with what she could only describe as trash.
“Hey! Give that back! Penny!” Yang yelled, running after the raccoon. He only laughed at her as he got further and further away.
“Damn! Penny? Penny, are you there?”
Penny didn’t respond. Yang could still feel her there, but not enough for Penny to talk to her.
Yang cursed again, going down the path that the wagon disappeared down. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you back.” She promised.
The attack came out of nowhere. This thing suddenly appeared and slashed at her. She was barely able to dodge.
It was big and purple and had massive horns. And it kept saying weird things. That's all she could get before it attacked again.
She dodged again, and this time she hit it back hard.
This cycle continued, and she was slowly damaging it, but getting increasingly tired from the process.
Just when she thought she could beat it, it ran.
Ugh, Come on!
“I’m not done with you yet!” She yelled, chasing after it. It didn’t pay her any mind and it continued running.
She lost sight of it for a while, exhaustion making her slow. Finally, she saw it in a clearing. It switched focus to new prey. Typical.
Yang looked at her surroundings and spotted a large rock. She smirked and grabbed it, taking a second to make sure she had a good grip on it with her hand.
“I said I wasn’t done with you yet!” She shouted, launching the boulder at it.
It turned towards her, revealing that it was fighting… Blake?
Conflicting emotions slammed into her at once. She was so happy to finally see a familiar face, and even more that it was her partner, but… Does that mean Blake-?
She shook her head, now wasn’t the time for this.
Turning her attention back to the monster, she moved towards it along with Blake and Weiss (Her too..?), it said something about returning and ran off.
Blake and Weiss ran after it, and she saw Ruby (Not her. No.) approaching her.
Ruby definitely wasn’t supposed to be here. She sacrificed herself so that she wouldn’t fall. And Blake and Weiss were supposed to be safe and out of the way! Why- how could this happen?
Yang fell to her knees, too many emotions hitting her at once. “Dammit!” She saw her sister pause briefly out of the corner of her eyes. “You weren’t supposed to be here.” She couldn’t stop her voice from cracking.
Ruby’s eyes softened, and she knelt next to her sister. “If you thought I- We wouldn’t come after you.” She placed a hand on Yang’s shoulder. “You must have forgotten who raised me.”
One part of Yang didn’t like how Ruby implied that she would have jumped into a void after her sister even though they thought that the void meant death. But that part was shoved to the back of her mind. Not the time to talk about that.
Ruby pulled her sister into a tight hug with enough force that they would have been sent down to the ground had Ruby not braced herself.
Yang’s sore muscles protested the sudden movement, but she didn’t care. She leaned into Ruby and brought up her remaining arm to hug her back as best she could, feeling the negative emotions banding at her mind slowly fade into the background.
“Don’t scare me like that again, please.” Yang could tell she was trying to hide it, but Ruby’s voice shook like she has holding back tears. “I-I can’t lose you…”
Yang winced internally. She never wanted to be the one to make Ruby feel like that. Not after… No. She pushed that thought into the back of her mind with all the rest. This isn’t about her. It’s about Ruby. She needs to be the strong one right now.
Yang pulled back enough to look at Ruby, cupping her cheek with one hand and gently making her meet her eyes. “Hey, I’m still here, and alive,” She hoped so, at least. Yang didn’t mind being dead, but if Ruby was too… She didn’t want to think about that. “I’m not leaving any time soon.”
Ruby stared at her for a moment. She looked calmer, tears no longer forming in her eyes. But she didn’t seem entirely convinced. There was something else she wanted to talk to Yang about, but before Yang could even attempt to figure out what, Ruby sighed and leaned back into Yang.
They sat there for a while, just holding each other until Ruby finally pulled away. Whatever was troubling her was gone; instead, she looked down at Yang’s arm curiously. “What happened to your arm?”
Yang glanced down at her right arm, or lack thereof, then back at Ruby with a sheepish smile. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Then, a mouse stuck their head out of Ruby’s hood. “Why not? You seem trustworthy!” They said.
Yang stared at them in shock. Was the mouse there the whole time? How had she not noticed? And did it just talk ?!
“Um, Rubes, What is that?” Yang asked, her gaze not leaving the mouse for a second.
Ruby giggled at her sister’s reaction. “Oh, this is Little! I met them when I entered the forest.” She stood up, then held out a hand to Yang. She smiled when Yang took her hand and helped her up. “They helped guide me, Weiss, and Blake over here.”
Hearing her teammate’s name reminded Yang that they were both here too. She turned to where she last saw Weiss and Blake. Weiss looked like she had been holding Blake back until Ruby and Yang finished their little moment. But she let go the moment she saw that they were done, and now there was a Blake running full-speed towards Yang.
Yang barely had time to react before Blake tackled her to the ground in a hug, holding onto her like Ruby had earlier. Like she was afraid that Yang would disappear if she let go.
Ruby and Weiss stood to the side, looking at each other with matching knowing smiles. Weiss’s was more exasperated, though.
Yang was about to tell Blake that she couldn’t exactly breathe , but Blake stopped her with one word.
“ Yang. ” She whispered, her voice filled to the brim with relief and something else Yang couldn’t quite place.
Yang sighed softly and wrapped her arm around Blake, gently placing her hand on the back of her head.
They laid there until Weiss decided she had enough of the pining idiots and spoke up. “You know, I thought you’d be more happy to see us.”
Blake sighed quietly, sounding slightly annoyed, but let Yang and got off of her so that she could sit up. Blake stayed right next to her, though.
Yang pushed herself up, not meeting Weiss’s eyes. “I am but…” What if you’re dead? “Things must have gone pretty bad, huh?”
Weiss’s smile fell immediately as she remembered what she had been putting off.
Yang stood up and glanced at her other teammates in concern as Weiss became increasingly distressed.
Blake moved towards Weiss and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Weiss?” She asked softly.
Weiss sniffled, wiping her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears. “It’s just… It all happened so fast. No one came back for Vacuo to help. And.. Penny- ”
Yang’s eyes widened at the pain in Weiss’s voice, and Ruby tensed up next to her. They shared a look as Weiss took a moment to find her voice. What happened to Penny?
Yang had a sinking feeling. Penny said that her soul wasn’t all there before she “woke up,” does that mean…?
Weiss finally found her voice. “Jaune tried his best, but… She’s gone.”
Weiss’s voice faded into the background. It finally made sense why Yang didn’t hear her until after she fell. Why Penny didn’t know what happened on the bridge. She… She died.
She didn’t have time to process or point out that she wasn’t entirely dead. She saw Ruby looking pale and swaying on her feet.
“Ruby? … Ruby!” Yang cried out as Ruby’s eyes rolled back, and she fell backward, Yang having barely enough time to swoop in and catch her.
Yang carefully lowered Ruby down to the ground, carefully moving her into the recovery position as Weiss and Blake turned towards them with a panicked looks.
“She’s okay, just fainted.” Yang ran her hand through Ruby’s hair in a way she hoped was comforting. “Can’t say I blame her, with that news..”
Yang shook her head to clear her thoughts, then looked at Weiss. “Now, start from the beginning. What happened when I fell?”