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Ruby intended to return the mirror in person - she really did! - but, as punishment for some wrongdoing she couldn’t remember committing, Cinder and Emerald jointly decided to bury her in work the morning following the show.  They had her running around fixing things that hadn’t been broken or finding things that hadn’t been missing right up until The Illusion started again.  

Then, as soon as that show ended, they packed up and headed to Mistral - disappearing in the night like they always did.  In the midst of all that commotion, she couldn’t find time to slip away and search for the girl with white hair and beautiful blue eyes.

But she had returned the mirror.  Just...not in person.

Right before they set off for Atlas, she put the mirror, along with a carefully written letter, in the hands of The Illusion’s resident messenger - a sweet boy by the name of Oscar.  Most of The Illusion’s crew sent him to deliver or pick up mail, but his experience trekking through the various stops meant he’d grown quite adept at finding people, places, or things that might have been lost.  In this case, he promised to deliver the mirror and the letter only to a girl named Weiss who fit the description Ruby provided.

That was good enough, right?  The mirror was returned, Weiss was hopefully happy, and Ruby was...well, she was still replaying that night in her mind and imagining what might have happened if Cinder hadn’t shown up.  What if she found the courage to strike up a conversation?  Would Weiss be willing to talk?  Or would she offer nothing more than a pleasantry before taking off like she had in actuality?  

Since this was Ruby’s imagination, she preferred to think that they would talk after the show was over.  They could learn more about each other than just a name and a vague inscription.  She could ask what brought Weiss to The Illusion, and what she thought of Melody’s voice.  Did she enjoy the emotions Melody stirred up?  Or did she find it disarming, like so many others did?

But that was part of why Ruby loved that act so much.  The emotions she felt were so pure and uninhibited, as if all of her biases and clouded judgments had been stripped away.

“Ruby?  Can you help me with this?”

Pulled out of her daydreaming, she rushed over and helped Penny unhook the stage from its tethered position inside one of the many trailers driven to Mistral.  To keep the heavy metal pieces from moving during transit, multiple latches were used to strap everything in place.  The only issue was that if Yatsuhashi latched everything down, it took two people to undo his work.  Or one normal person and Penny.

“You got it?” she asked Penny while fitting her hands into the bottom of the latch and preparing to pull down as hard as she could.  Once Penny nodded, the two of them pushed and pulled in unison, and the latch undid with a satisfying click.

“One down.”  After giving Penny a high-five, Ruby moved over to the second strap and prepared to repeat the process.  There were only ten straps total - five on either side of the truck - but by the end her arms would ache more than they already did.

Setting up The Illusion was the worst part of her job, by far.  Not only was everything incredibly heavy, but they had to work through the night in order to get the tent up by daybreak.  Since only one of them could see in the dark, the rest of them used a combination of headlamps and stage lights in hopes they didn’t lose any fingers.

Hearing nearby cheers, Ruby glanced out of the truck and smiled when she saw the tent lift off the ground and quickly fill the night sky.  It wouldn’t be much longer before it was fully formed and ready for the fixtures to be taken inside.  That meant the stage, the stands, the lights, and the speakers - those damn finicky things.  She still needed to help Ren fix those…

“Are you almost done?”

Turning to the side, Ruby sighed in relief when Pyrrha walked up to the truck and gestured towards the stage.

“Just one more,” she replied before nodding for Penny to grab a hold of the last latch.  With one more push and pull of effort, it fell free, and the pieces of the stage were ready for Pyrrha to move into the tent.

“You got it from here?” Ruby asked, hopping out of the truck and offering her hand to help Penny do the same.

“I do.  Thank you.”

Knowing that Pyrrha was more than capable of handling the stage on her own, Ruby nodded and gave Penny a smile.  “I’m going to help Ren with the speakers,” she added while pointing his way.  “There’s still some kinks we have to work out.”

“Ok.  Thank you, Ruby.”

Faced with Penny’s sincere gratitude, Ruby smiled and shook her head.  “Don’t mention it!  I’m here to help!”  With a wave, she headed across the field towards Ren, who was looking at the collection of speakers and lights while Nora spoke nonstop from beside him.

“There you are.”

Halfway to Ren and Nora, Ruby was forced to stop when she heard the smooth, perpetually-smug voice directed her way.  As soon as she spotted Cinder heading towards her, a wave of exhaustion washed over her, but she knew better than to show any weakness when Cinder was around.

“What’s up?” she asked instead, only to feel her spirits sink when Cinder dumped a stack of fliers into her hands.

“Get these put up,” was all Cinder said before walking away, leaving no opening for argument.

Not that Ruby would argue anyway, as one glance at the flier confirmed that Melody was the headlining act once again.  Instead, she moved the stack of papers into the corner of her arm and hurried to find Yang.  

Fortunately, Yang was easy to find, as she was currently using her flames to cast an eerie form of light for Jaune to see by.

“Yang,” Ruby said once close enough, and motioned with the papers to show her sister what she had to do next.  “I’m headed into town,” she added, only for Yang to frown.

“It’s the middle of the night.”

“Yeah, well...someone’s got to put these up.”

Ruby could take care of herself, but she knew that Yang still didn’t like it.  It was that ‘protective older sister’ thing at its finest.

“I’ll go with you.”

“They need you to help,” Ruby quickly pointed out, knowing that Yang was one of the most helpful for setup.  Yang knew that too, which was why her frown deepened.

“You heading into town?” Jaune asked then, and stood up with a smile.  “Can I come with you?  I want to scope out places to take Pyrrha.”

When Ruby gave Yang a look, Yang nodded, so she smiled at Jaune.

“Happy to have the company,” she added, and walked away from the tent with Jaune in tow.  Apparently, she wasn’t going to sleep tonight, since putting these fliers up would take at least a few hours.

As much as she loved Melody’s voice, sometimes she wished The Illusion would stop choosing her as the headlining act.  While it made sense, being the star of the show gave her pseudo-handler - Cinder - way too much power.

But The Illusion chose Melody.  The rest of them might never know how or why that decision was made, but they knew better than to protest.  Besides, who would they even protest to?

That was the thing about real magic...it left far more questions than answers.

Ruby didn’t need answers right now.  All she needed was old-fashioned hard work - and the patience to listen to Jaune gush about Pyrrha for hours - to complete yet another one of Cinder’s tasks.  By the time they returned to the fairgrounds located on the outskirts of the city, the sun was rising, and that giant red tent stood out like a sore thumb.

“I still get goosebumps seeing it...” Jaune admitted as they returned to their semi-permanent homes and found everything quiet and still.  Setup must be over for now, which meant everyone went back to their trailers to get some sleep before gearing up for the first show tonight.

After waving Jaune off and heading back to her tiny trailer - the other half of which she shared with their resident photographer - she hardly collapsed into bed and closed her eyes before someone knocked on her door.

From how bright it was and how groggy she felt, she must have been sleeping, but it didn’t feel like she had as she dragged herself to the door and pulled it open.  As soon as she saw Oscar standing on the front step, however, she forgot that she was tired at all.

“Oh,” he said as soon as he saw her - and her bedraggled hair.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up -”

“Don’t worry about it.”  She waved off the concern, and skipped all small talk to get to what she really wanted to know.

“Did you find her?”

“I did!  And I have something for you!”  When her brow rose at the response, he pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it over with a grin.  “She has a really cute brother,” he added, which only doubled her surprise as she accepted the envelope with a stunned “Thank you.”

“No problem!”  After hopping off the step, he patted his bag filled with other envelopes and packages to be delivered.  “I’ll see you later though.  Let me know if you need to send anything else!” 

While he ran off to finish his deliveries and pickups, she stared after him for a few seconds before looking at the envelope in her hands.  As soon as she turned it over and saw the sender’s name written in the corner, her heart fluttered.

It couldn’t be.  Could it?  It couldn’t.

After a quick glance around, she retreated into her room and shut the door behind her.  She hadn’t expected a reply.  She wished for one, and hoped for one, but she never expected that wish to come true.  Yet here it was, in her hands, a response from the beautiful girl whose mirror she’d returned.  Through Oscar, but still…

With her curiosity at an all-time high, she stood in the middle of her room and gently tore the envelope open - making sure to keep the front intact.  She found a single sheet of paper inside, which she unfolded only for her heart to flutter again when she found the page half-filled with elegant cursive writing.

She should have expected such beautiful handwriting from someone so beautiful, but the fact that she had it right here, in her hands, still far beyond incredible - and that was before she began to read.

Dear Ruby,

I can’t express how grateful I am that you found and returned my mirror.  It was a gift from my grandfather, and I’ve always kept it nearby to remind me of him.  Losing that memory would have been difficult to bear.  So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for sending it back to me.

I must apologize that I wasn’t able to stay longer so that you could return it in person, but I had forgotten a prior engagement I couldn’t be late for.  That’s why I had to leave in such a hurry.

If I understand correctly, you work for the event - The Illusion?  Do you perform in one of the acts?  

It must be incredible to travel so much.  I’ve always wanted to see the world, and what better way than to do that while working?

I’m sorry - I shouldn’t ramble and take up even more of your time.  Thank you again for your kindness.  If you ever feel the need to write back, my address is the same.

Sincerely,

Weiss Schnee

“Weiss Schnee...” Ruby read aloud while lowering the letter to her side.  Now she had a full name to go with a face.  A pretty name for a pretty girl, who had pretty handwriting and used pretty words.

Should she respond?  Weiss asked some questions, so she could.  And she wanted to.  If she wanted to, then shouldn’t she?  Weiss didn’t have to write back again if she didn’t want to, but Ruby wasn’t about to leave those questions unanswered.

So she pulled out her desk chair, sat down, and found a pen and piece of paper to start a response.  First, she explained the gist of her job and that she didn’t perform in the show - yet.  While she didn’t dive too deeply into why she didn’t perform, she did explain the pros of working and living this way.  There were some cons too, which she added so that her letter wasn’t obviously biased.

By the time she took a break - because her hand was cramping, not because she’d run out of things to say - the page was filled...front and back.  Writing more would probably look...overzealous...so she ended the letter with a few questions of her own before signing it and sticking it into a new envelope.  She’d just sealed it when someone knocked on her door, making her jump and nearly give herself a papercut in the process.

“Ruby!” Yang called out with another knock.  “Where the heck have you been?  Show’s about to start!”

“Crap,” she muttered to herself while sticking the letter into her pocket and grabbing her keys.  “Coming!” she called back before hurrying to put on her shoes.  If she saw Oscar tonight, she’d give him the letter and wait to see what happened next.  Maybe Weiss would respond, maybe she wouldn’t.  But until then, Ruby had a job to do.

Multiple jobs, actually, but it kept her busy.  

A new city meant that most of the performers were trying out new acts, which in turn meant Ruby had a different set of props to find and broken things to fix.  And those broken things were in addition to the perpetually-broken lights and speakers - the speakers on the right-hand side of the stage refused to work in Mistral, while the left-hand side was miraculously cured by a change in scenery.

Somehow, everything came together when showtime rolled around, and The Illusion ran smoothly night-after-night.  Her free time, however, was spent rereading Weiss’ letter and wondering if they would ever speak again.  

A few days later, her answer arrived.  

“Ruby!”  Waving an envelope in the air, Oscar hurried over and handed it to her.  “For you!” he added before racing off to fulfill the rest of his deliveries.  As soon as Ruby looked down and saw the handwriting on the envelope, butterflies fluttered in her chest.

Weiss wrote back.

Deciding that now was an excellent time for a break, Ruby rushed back to her room and tore open the envelope as soon as she closed the door.  This time, she unfolded the sheet of paper and found it filled with words, and she couldn’t stop smiling while reading each and every one - repeatedly, like she’d done with the first letter.

Weiss had spent her entire life in Atlas.  Her family had been there forever, which was probably how Oscar found her so easily.  She was at The Illusion that night they nearly met because she’d heard about Melody’s act, and that it was something everyone needed to witness at least once.  Seeing as how her first visit was cut short, she said that she’d like to return whenever The Illusion returned - not that either of them knew when that would be.

More questions were sprinkled throughout the page, and Ruby didn’t hesitate to pen a response.  Weiss’ words were friendly, curious, and clearly open to this unconventional means of communication.  

The feeling was mutual, and it remained mutual when Ruby received a third letter..then a fourth...and a fifth.

The days passed quickly as The Illusion moved on and on, but time seemed to slow whenever Oscar shouted her name and handed over an envelope with her name written across the front.  Every word written on those pages, which grew in number as time went on, was savored as if it came from a long-lost friend.  

Weiss didn’t work right now, although she wished that she could.  She had two siblings - a younger brother, and an older sister with whom she had a...complicated relationship with.  Her relationship with her parents was equally complicated.  Her home life, in general, was something she subtly expressed the desire to change.  Even though she didn’t go into too much detail, Ruby felt that wish, along with many others, threaded throughout the pages.

As each letter grew more intimate and revealing, Ruby’s heart began to race whenever she saw her name written in curly, elegant font.  They probably couldn’t be more different.  At the same time, they were more alike than either of them could comprehend.

They both had some lingering issues in their lives, but they were both determined to make the best of it.  In Weiss’ case, that meant embracing her role in her family.  For Ruby, that meant accepting her place within The Illusion.

“You just have to give it a good hit!”

“I tried that already!” she protested, only to shake her head and sigh when Yang knelt down to try it for herself.  “I told you,” she added after Yang smacked the side of the portable generator and nothing happened.  “It’s stuck.  We should ask Pyrrha for help.” 

When Yang’s response was a grumble, Ruby rolled her eyes and let her sister try to fix the problem.  Pyrrha could start it with nothing more than a look, but no.  They would do this the hard way.

While giving Yang the opportunity to prove she could actually fix it, Ruby looked around the crew’s portion of the tent and accidentally met Emerald’s gaze.  She turned away quickly, but Emerald had already smirked and was walking over.

As soon as Ruby recognized the vindictive look in those red eyes, her adrenaline kicked in and she mentally prepared herself for the impending conversation.  Usually, she would walk away in hopes of avoiding the confrontation, but with Yang right here...

“Hey Useless,” Emerald greeted her with a sneer.  “Having trouble finding something to do?”

“What did you just call her?” 

When Yang stood up from behind the generator, crossed her arms, and frowned, Emerald flinched and put on an innocent smile.

“It’s a running joke we have.”  Emerald’s voice was as sweet as honey, but her eyes shot towards Ruby like daggers.  “Right, Ruby?”

That look said that Ruby better agree or face the consequences later.  But there would probably be repercussions no matter what she did...the only difference was how severe they would be.

So she gritted her teeth, forced a smile, and said, “Sure.  Just a running joke.” 

No matter what she said, Yang wouldn’t believe her.  Yang studied her closely, however, before deciding how to respond.  

“Don’t care.  Don’t call her that again.”

Accepting the light rebuke with a roll of her eyes, Emerald stalked off rather than risk Yang’s anger.  Yang, meanwhile, uncrossed her arms and turned a searching gaze towards Ruby.

“They’re still bothering you?” 

“They’re not bothering me...”

“You’re right.  They’re bullying you.”  When Ruby sighed at the response, Yang reached over and put a hand on her shoulder.  “Tell me if they’re doing anything, ok?  I’ll knock some sense into them.”  

The look in Yang’s eyes was sincere, but Ruby didn’t want to be that person - the one who ran to their older sister for help whenever someone said or did something mean.  True, her older sister could literally incinerate the entire tent if needed, but she hated needing the help.

“Sure,” she agreed anyway, because Yang wouldn’t accept anything less than that.  

“Good.”  With a nod, Yang turned back to the generator and kicked it in the side.  Like magic, it started humming again.  “Ha!  See?  Told you it works!” 

When Ruby shook her head, she caught sight of Pyrrha, who held a finger to her lips before slipping away with a smile.

“Good job, Yang,” Ruby added with a laugh at that.  “Thanks for the help.” 

“You got it.”  Looking pretty proud of herself, Yang dusted off her hands and smiled.  “Let me know if you need anything else.  I’m going to find Blake.” 

“Yes, you’ve been apart for like...five minutes.  It must be hard.” 

“Ten minutes, smartass.  And one day you’ll understand.” 

“Uh huh...” Ruby teased while Yang smiled and hurried off to find Blake.  Blake would probably find Yang first though - that’s how it normally worked.

After watching Yang go, Ruby glanced around and tried to figure out what to do next.  When she spotted Emerald leering at her from the other side of the room, however, she decided to get out of sight quickly.

Her feet led her back to her room on autopilot, and her gaze immediately returned to the most recent letter still laying on the desk.  Picking it up and reading it for what must be the hundredth time, she found her happiness returning in leaps and bounds.

Was it possible to like the way someone wrote?  If so, that’s how she felt right now.  And it was that feeling that made her smile while grabbing a fresh sheet of paper and holding a pen above the page.

As usual, it took no time at all for her to start writing the first thing that came to mind.  Today, it was Emerald, Cinder, and the less-savory members of The Illusion.  Ordinarily, she wouldn’t complain - she didn’t complain, but that was because she didn’t have anyone to complain to.  Yang would stand up for her, which might make things worse.  Blake would keep a secret, but Ruby didn’t want to make her keep a secret from Yang.

She trusted Weiss, which meant she trusted that she could be open, honest, and express the feelings she hid from anyone else in her life.  From the tone and candor Weiss used in her responses, it felt like she believed the same.  

So, even if this was more intimate or personal than anything they’d discussed so far, Ruby shared her thoughts willingly.  And the more she wrote, the more she realized that she wanted to share this information.  She wanted Weiss to know her thoughts, and know her better than anyone else.

Selfishly, she wanted to be able to say the same about Weiss.

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