Chapter 2
“So, we have no idea what happened to the relic. Or what happened to everyone is Vacuo. Or where Neo is?” Yang asked, not able to keep the frustration out of her voice. The situation could be much worse than they thought.
She glanced down at Ruby, who she had moved so her head was in her lap. Little sat beside her, fanning her off with a leaf they had found. While Yang initially had been weirded out by the talking mouse, they seemed to genuinely care about Ruby, so they were good in her books.
Yang sighed and looked off to the side. She wished she had done more before she had fallen. Maybe so many bad things wouldn’t have happened, maybe then Ruby wouldn’t-
“Maybe everyone else made it,” Blake suggested, effectively cutting off Yang’s thoughts and drawing her attention back to the conversation.
Weiss, ever the downer, sighed and looked at the ground. “I don't know, but a have a bad feeling..”
Yang felt Ruby stirring on her lap, pushing herself up. At first, Yang was relieved, but that was immediately dashed when she saw her sister’s expression- or lack thereof. She looked so… Numb.
“Neo’s here too,” Ruby said in a dead voice that matched her face.
Yang barely held back the wince from the tone. “Hey, are you alright?” She placed a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. Ruby looked up to meet her eyes, and even though she didn’t say anything, Yang could clearly see she was not.
Locked behind a wall that anyone who hasn’t been with her for almost their whole life would never be able to get behind was a storm of emotions. Grief, pain, defeat. All things that had no place being there.
This wouldn’t have happened if you were better. A voice told Yang, but she pushed it to the back of her head.
Ruby looked away after a moment of eye contact. Yang kept her hand on her shoulder, hoping the touch would help ground her. “She attacked me when we were falling.”
There was a moment of silence until Blake broke it with a sigh as she stood up to begin pacing. She had a determined and focused look on her face. “Okay. Ruby’s weapon is still missing, Yang’s arm was stolen. I say we focus on getting everything back. Then we can focus on getting out of here. Wherever… Here…is.” Her ear twitched, and she turned away from the group. She stopped pacing for a moment, then walked toward a bunch of hanging vines.
Weiss, again being a downer, piped up again. “But what if we can’t leave? Or what if…” She didn’t seem like she could bring herself to suggest it.
But Yang could. After all, she’s thought about this a lot.
“What if we’re dead? Until you found me, I… thought for sure I was.” Ruby snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Yang say that, looking up at her with wide eyes.
Yang pointedly looked away from her. She knew Ruby wanted to ask her what she meant, but now was not the time for that conversation. Definitely not. I’m supposed to be comforting her, anyways.
Ruby placed her hand on top of Yang’s, finally drawing Yang’s eyes to meet hers. Before either of them could say anything, Blake spoke again.
“No, I don’t think we’re dead. I know how this sounds, but…” Blake walked to the edge of the cliff hidden behind the vines. “I think we’re in a fairy tale.”
The rest of her team glanced at each other before getting up and following her.
They stood at the cliff's edge, staring at the giant tree until Yang got bored from standing there too long. “So, are we going to stand around thinking about this in silence or…?”
Ruby slowly lowered her gaze to the ground. “I know this place is weird, but a fairy tale? That’s impossible.” Her voice still had the same dead tone.
Popped out of her hood and nodded enthusiastically at her.
Blake clears her throat to get Ruby’s attention and points at Little. Yang and Weiss were giving her flat, non-believing looks in the background.
Ruby laughed and curled in on herself sheepishly.
Yang rolled her eyes at her playfully, patting her back in support.
“What we’ve seen is improbable but that doesn’t mean we’re in an actual fairytale.” Weiss stated. She crossed her arms and gave them all an annoyed look. “Are we seriously entertaining this?”
Yang rolled her eyes again, this time not as playful. “Do you have a better explanation for what's going on?”
Weiss stepped forward and turned so that she was facing everyone. “Well, let's try to be more logical, shall we? We fell from the sky, Ruby made friends with a tiny mouse.”
“Friends!” Little cheered.
“Blake and I got caught by killer vines,”
Blake groans, looking unsettled by the memory.
“And, uh, you got your arm stolen by- by a, what was it that you said?”
Yang’s expression slowly turned into one of annoyance. “A talking raccoon riding on a purple wagon filled with trash.” She responded, exasperated.
Weiss blinked. “Yes. That. Okay.” She slumped over, done. “I see your point of view. I am going to go over here now.” She pointed off to the side and walked away.
Weiss started grumbling and ranting to herself the moment she was over there. Yang held back a laugh as she could practically see the anger clouds.
Her sister’s voice brought her back, though. “As crazy as it sounds, something about this is familiar.”
They all fell silent as they racked their brains, trying to think of something. I wish you were here, Penny. You would know what we’re trying to find out.
The thought made her jump, internally, at least. She had forgotten in all the commotion. Everyone here thought Penny was dead! She had to tell them that she’s not.
She opened her mouth to say something immediately. They deserved to know. Especially Ruby. She was so crushed when she learned that she’d lost Penny again. But something stopped her.
Why would they believe her? She wouldn’t believe her. “Hey guys! So, you know that friend that you said died? Well, guess what? She’s not dead! She’s just living in my arm!” Stupid.
Yang couldn’t tell them. Not yet. Not until she could prove it. But how was she supposed to prove it? She didn’t know if Penny could talk outside her head yet. Does her arm even have parts that would let her do that? Ugh. I wish I asked Peitro about the mechanics of my arm when I had the chance.
“In the story, Alyx fell from the sky, and met with the hunter mice, got trapped in vines, fought a jabberwocker, and got her knife stolen by… a talking raccoon” Alyx? That name brought Yang back out of her thoughts. The girl who fell through the world! Of course.
Weiss scoffed and threw her hands up into the air.
Yang jumped into the conversation. She’d figure out how to tell them about Penny after she got her back. “Yeah, and then she beat the red king at a board game, met the curious cat, and finally got out through…” She glanced out into the distance.
Blake finished for her, smiling. “The tree.”
Weiss piped up again. “So what now? Do we go to the tree? Look for Alyx, Yang’s arm? Ruby, you’re still missing Crescent Rose!”
“I’m not leaving without her.” Yang said before she could think. She was definitely not leaving Penny behind.
The three of them, plus Little, gave her confused looks. Oh, I should not have said that.
“You’re not leaving… Without Alyx?” Blake asked. “She was here a long time ago, and already got out. I don’t think-”
“No! No.” Yang scratched the back of her neck, smiling sheepishly. “I.. I meant my arm.”
“Since when do you call your arm a “her?”” Weiss scoffed. “Now you sound like Ruby with Crescent Rose.”
“Hey…” Ruby pouted and crossed her arms. Her voice sounded better this time, a little more light. Yang relaxed and held herself back from smiling. She would take getting picked on if it took her getting teased to make Ruby better.
“Well, I’ll bet the Jinxy peddler has it!” Little said, effectively steering the conversation away from Yang.
“WHO?!’
Little jumped at the volume. They hid behind Ruby’s cloak the best they could. “The Jinxy peddler? That’s the only talking raccoon I know.”
Weiss started ranting and grumbling to herself again, and again Yang watched her with an amused look.
“Do you know where he might be?” Blake asked.
Little nodded and hopped onto Ruby’s head, striking a heroic pose. “Of course! I’ll lead the way, right to-”
“Yeah yeah. Let’s get going. I need to get h- my arm back.” Yang cut off Little, walking down a path. “Come on!” I’m coming, Penny.
She didn’t notice her teammates give each other concerned looks behind her back before following.
Ruby jogged to catch up with Yang. “Yang, you don’t know where to go yet.”
“Huh? Oh. Right.” Yang stopped and looked at Little expectantly.
“Oh! It’s just down this path!” Little said.
“Good. Now let's go.” She once again took off down the path. Blake sped up to walk next to Yang, and Ruby and Weiss followed behind them.
“Um, Yang, I know you want your arm back. But you don’t need to rush, we will get it back.” Weiss hesitantly said she knew not to get in between something Yang was dead set on doing.
“I know. I know. I just really want her back as soon as possible.” Yang replied. She didn’t know when she had started being so protective and caring of Penny, maybe it had something to do with her literally being a part of Yang now. Sure, she cared for Penny before, but this was a whole other level.
Or maybe it was because she knew how much Ruby had loved her. That girl was always terrible at hiding her crushes, especially from Yang. She was NOT going to think about what that meant now that Penny was literally in her head, no thank you.
“You called it a her again. Yang, is there something you haven’t told us yet?” Blake asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Yang relaxed at Blake’s touch but didn’t look over at her. She knew Blake could get her to spill anything, but she couldn’t tell them. Not yet.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll.. I’ll explain everything after I get my arm back. I promise.”
They continued down the path for a while. Little had fallen asleep on Ruby by this point, but they’ve been sleeping a lot, so that didn’t surprise anyone.
“So the town is just ahead, right?” Blake asked.
Ruby poked Little in an attempt to wake them up but only succeeded enough for them to readjust their position and fall back to sleep.
Yang rolled her eyes. Some guide they are.
“I’ve been thinking, if we’re going to go to this town, we need to be careful. Alyx didn’t know their customs and ended up starting a war among the towns folk. Trouble followed her everywhere she went.” Blake said. She was talking to everyone but looking at Yang.
“Well, yeah, but she was kind of a mean person, right? She lied and cheated her way through most of the book.” Yang pointed out.
“She was trying to survive. The morals of those old stories are so simplistic.” Yang could practically hear the eye roll from Weiss.
Blake wasn’t deterred by this. “Either way. We need to tread lightly.”
Yang heard Little squeak and saw Little scrambling back onto Ruby’s head. “the towns just up ahead.” They yawned and rubbed their eyes. “The Jinxy peddler always stops by our village before he goes to town.”
“Do they steal stuff from you guys too?”
“Steal? Never! They just take the stuff we’re not looking at. Fair is fair.” They replied, curling back up and falling asleep again.
“Sounds like a legitimate business person,” Weiss grumbled. “How did they manage to steal your arm anyway? You’re pretty attached to it.”
Yang winced, shame bubbling up. The attempt at a pun going over her head. She couldn’t believe she didn’t notice her arm getting stolen. It wasn’t like she was knocked out. She was just sleeping. But why didn’t Penny try and get her attention? Did Penny sleep when she slept? Or did she turn off or something?
“Yang? Everything okay?”
Yang jolted out of her thoughts and looked at Blake. “What? Oh, yeah. I was resting after exploring the whole day. I must’ve been pretty tired because when I woke up, that raccoon was already speeding off with my arm before I could do anything to stop him.”
Blake’s face shifted into a smirk for a split second, but she let it fall away when she remembered how Yang reacted to hearing about her arm.
“Anyway!” Yang forced a smile and started walking faster. “We’re almost there, so we don’t have to worry about it!”
Weiss and Blake stopped walking, giving each other matching concerned looks. Ruby continued walking, coming up next to Yang.
They walked silently for a while, Blake and Weiss talking to each other behind them.
Yang glanced at Ruby out of the corner of her eye. Distant. Numb. Barely there. Maybe I should tell her now. She thought. She knew Ruby was trying to be strong, but Penny’s ‘death’ was really affecting her. If she knew that Penny was alive…
“Hey, Rubes? About Penny…” Yang stopped as Ruby curled up into herself, a distant thunder filling the air.
“I… Nevermind. Sorry.” She couldn’t risk Ruby not believing her. She would hate it if Ruby thought she was lying, or, worse, trying to joke about Penny dying. “I just… Know that I’m here for you if you need anything, okay sis?”
Ruby was quiet but nodded to let Yang know she heard her.
“Alright, good..” Yang looked ahead, hating how she made the silence between them awkward.
“There it is! The bridge to the other acre!” Little shouted suddenly, making both Yang and Ruby jump. But that seemed to use all the energy they had, because they had gone back to sleep.
Ruby glanced at her team before taking Little off of her head. She held them in front of her as they walked to the bridge.
They all waited to see if Little was going to wake up to continue telling them where to go, but they made no move to get up until Blake prompted them.
“So this is the entrance to the other… Acre, you called it?”
Little yawned and finally got back up. “Yep! All we do is cross the bridge and we’ll be, well, where ever there is!” They jumped down from Ruby’s hands and ran to the edge of the bridge.
That didn’t sound quite right to Yang. “You don’t know?”
“Nope! Never been this far from home.”
Ruby looked concerned. “Oh, uh, maybe you should go back?” She suggested, gesturing back the way they came. Yang had a bad feeling about where this was going. Little did say they weren't very old…
“I wouldn’t have any idea how to go back. Maybe I’ll live by this bridge.” They looked over the area by the bridge, probably for a good spot to live.
It took a second before what they said was processed by everyone. But when it did, they all had varying reactions. Yang immediately facepalmed. She should have seen this coming. Blake looked like the embodiment of “poor baby!” Ruby looked at her hands with a horrified expression. Weiss looked about ready to explode again until she swallowed it down.
“I’ll handle this,” She said, walking towards Little, who was singing while they were building their “house,” which was really just a bunch of sticks, leaves, and rocks that did not look stable.
“Bildin a house~ My very first house~ Gonna find my purpose in my best house~”?
Weiss took a breath and forced a smile on her face. “Would you like to come with us?”
Little looked up at Weiss curiously. Their house made a creaking noise, then collapsed. They looked back at it, then at Weiss again.
“Yeah… that’s probably for the best,” They said, smiling sheepishly. Or, as sheepish as a mouse could manage.
She leaned down to pick Little up, only to quickly hand them off to Ruby when she remembered that Little was, in fact, a mouse. She tried not to look too grossed out, though. “Good. That’s settled. Now we should- Yang Xiao Long! At least wait for the rest of us!”
Yang had already started walking down the bridge. Something was tugging at her mind, and the closer she got to the acre, the stronger it got. It was like a string pulling her along, telling her where to go. That was definitely new. I wonder if there's something else linking me to Penny, not just my arm. She thought absent-mindedly, not taking too long to dwell on it.
Her team rushed to catch up with her, and they continued down the path toward where they thought the town was. That is until they reached a fork in the road.
“Well, that’s just great. Did Alyx include a map in that little story of hers?” Weiss asked sarcastically.
Blake rolled her eyes and chose to ignore her, instead looking at Ruby. “What do we do? It’s not like there are any signs or anything. And Little hasn’t even been over here before.”
Yang looked down both paths. Sure, there didn’t seem to be any difference between the two, but that tugging feeling… It was pulling her towards the right. She didn’t know where this feeling came from, but she felt she could trust it for some reason.
Ruby tensed up. “I- I’m not sure.” She looked at each road carefully, but still, no town was in sight down either of them. “Maybe I could-”
“It’s this way.”
The three of them(four if you counted Little) looked over at Yang in varying levels of confusion. Ruby also seemed to relax, a bit of relief in her eyes, not that anyone noticed. She didn’t pay them any mind, though. She continued staring down the right path.
Blake was the first one to break the stunned silence. “How… How do you know that Yang?”
“Not important, lets just go,” Yang replied, walking down the right path.
Weiss rolled her eyes. “Oh, no big deal, you just so happen to know where we need to go even though there is no possible way for you to know that. No big deal!”
“Look, I can’t explain it yet. I just know it’s this way.” Yang glanced back at her team. “Please, trust me. I promise, I’ll try to explain it later.”
Her teammates looked concerned, and Blake maybe even looked offended that Yang was keeping secrets from them, but eventually, they all nodded.
“Lead the way, sis. We’ll follow your lead.” Ruby said, giving her a small but forced smile.
Yang smiled back at her, glad at Ruby was trying to reassure her. “Thank you. Now, this way.” She turned around and continued down the path.
Blake tried to make conversation with her as they walked, and even Weiss tried a couple of times, But Yang stayed focused on the task at hand. The tugging was getting stronger and stronger.
As they came over the top of the hill, they could see the town not too far away from them, and Yang found it funny how similar it was to when they arrived at Argus. Even down to her leading the way.
“Wow. She… actually knew the way. Yang, how did you do that?” Weiss asked, disbelief filling her voice.
Yang didn’t respond, the tugging was so strong now it almost felt like it could pull her off her feet, if it was a physical thing, anyway. She shook her head. No time. Penny was somewhere in that town. She could feel it.
She took a breath, then bolted down the hill.
She distantly heard Blake yell after her. “Wait, Yang! Why are you running?”
Yang ignored her, she’d probably regret that later. But for now, she only had one thing on her mind.
I’m almost there, Penny.