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Ruby was drifting. Deep below the surface, along the edge of light and sound, three silhouettes stood, laughing at her. One of the figures, the one furthest to the right, extended a hesitant hand, perforating right through the girls' torso and taking firm grip on her heart. Its stare was locked; heaven bound. The silhouette in the middle was crying out of its only eye whilst the empty cavity where the other should have been bled out in irregular, all too sporadic intervals. An agonizing amount of time passed, allowing each of the seven moons to set beyond the red mountain, before the third figure approached Ruby, who was now silently screaming and convulsing. It descended, allowing its outline to merge with that of the girl and pierce gently through her skull. It pricked, slit, slashed and cleaved the fragile flickers of time, creating tantalizing voids to be filled by eternity. With dry, pale lips tainted by agony, it smiled.
"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! YOU ARE ALL TO... uhh... yeah, ok, yeah I know I wrote it down here... YOU ARE ALL REQUIRED TO ATTEND THE OPENING CEREMONY, WHICH IS TO TAKE PLACE IN THE SCHOOL AUDITORIUM. ALL OF YOU MUST MAKE YOUR WAY THERE BY... uhh... oh, that's right, sorry... BY 15 MINUTES FROM NOW AT THE LATEST. ANYONE WHO FAILS TO SHOW WILL HAVE AN INFRACTION REGISTERED ON THEIR RECORD."
Ruby was snatched from her slumber by a startling combination of upbeat trumpets and Oscar's voice blaring from the school's broadcast system. As her consciousness came back to her in uneven chunks, she was slowly made aware of the pain present in her limbs due to the rather uncomfortable position she had slept in. For some reason, her body had contorted in on itself, when under regular circumstances she would have instead found herself relaxed and with her limbs spread out.
Actually, once she opened her eyes and the fuzziness in her sight finally cleared up, Ruby began to wonder if it was even 'morning' she was looking at. The sun was definitely not out in the sky just yet, and it didn't seem like it had any plans to be there anytime soon, either. Straightening her posture and rubbing her face with clumsy motions, Ruby heard, and was somewhat relieved by, her sister's familiar voice:
"Come on! They give us these comfy beds and warm blankets just to rip it all away and make us walk around in the cold night?! That's just heartless!"
Underneath, Ruby heard her (unwillingly chosen through rock-paper-scissors) bunkmate, Weiss, shifting around in her bed. After some grumbling, she, too, spoke up:
"I must admit: even though I expected high standards from a prestigious academy like Beacon, making us get up at this hour seems a bit excessive. It's also quite strange. I remember reading that freshmen usually get a period of time to live on campus and get used to the school grounds while the academy sorts out all the paperwo- WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"
Ruby did not need to be told what Weiss had been astounded by. She knew. And yet regardless of how many times she had laid eyes upon it, it had never been any less mind-boggling. Every morning, upon Yang's head, a voluminous creature would rise along with her. It was the horror of combs; the bane of headbands; the nightmare of hairdressers across Remnant. Legends and rumors quickly spread anytime Yang would attend a sleepover, that whoever could reach into that chaotic, concentrated mass of hair could acquire some sort of magical treasure or weapon. But none dared try.
