Team RWBY watch a play based on their Ever After adventures. The play shows Ruby triumphantly beating Neo in the Illusion house, the latter then shown dying along with the Cat. The real Ruby then finds out the play was Neo's idea.
(Hope this gets the idea across)
“A play about our adventures in the Ever After?” Ruby practically asked as she looked over the brochure Weiss had handed her, fingers shaking as she took it. Even though it had been years since their adventure into the Ever After, the memories of everything still stuck with her. The way it seemed to mess with her, the cat almost killing her and her friends… all of it like a bad memory that didnt want to go away. “I’m not so sure this’ll be a good idea.”
Weiss rolled her eyes and took the brochure back. “I’m sure its just going to be a retelling from what Yang and Blake told everyone else.”
“And it would be a shame to waste free tickets,” Yang said. “So what’s the harm?”
Ruby sighed as she looked around at her teammates. “Fine, we can go.”
“I knew you’d come around to the idea!” Yang practically yelled out as she pulled Ruby into a hug.
Ruby gave a weak smile as she leaned into Yang, not sure how she truly felt about the idea. There still seemed to be something off about the idea of a play of their adventures, though, at the same time, she knew everyone would tell her that it’d be a big step into getting better. Watching everything that happened without experiencing it all over would be a good way to start getting over it, even if it did still haunt her in her nightmares.
Still, she ended up getting ready for a night out with her teammates, dressing up for the theater with Weiss fussing over her dress. Once ready, they all headed out, Ruby still nervous about the whole idea. Her heart started to pound in her chest as she swore she saw the shadow of the Curious Cat, hand reaching for her back for the weapon Blake had practically forced her to leave at home. A simple touch from Weiss helped calm her as a cat ran out of the shadows.
“Everything will be fine,” Weiss said as she took Ruby’s hand.
Blake nodded and gave her a smile. “The only thing you have to worry about is grimm.”
“I-I know.” Ruby took a breath to keep herself calm as she squeezed Weiss’s hand. She followed her teammates into the theater, almost relaxing when she saw a crowd of people waiting to get seated. Under normal circumstances, a crowd like this would’ve been a nightmare, but seeing this many people at the play almost made her feel… less alone.
It took almost an hour for everyone to get into their seats, most of everyone around was almost excited to see a story they’d read or heard unfold before their eyes. Ruby started to worry again as the theater darkened, the curtain rose on the stage, and a few lights lit up a stage to show the props that nearly brought Ruby back to the day she woke up in the Ever After. The plants and background were accurate to what she remembered, almost as if the playwright was there themselves. Then the actors came out, and while Ruby was less surprised about how accurate the costumes had been when they were younger, though seeing the costume for the actor for Little made her heart break. It was almost as if she was seeing back to when she was in the Ever After, everything meticulously made to be true to what she remembered and what she and her team took pictures of when there.
Ruby stayed quiet as she watched the play, trying to stay calm as she practically watched someone retrace her steps. Her heart stopped as she watched the play progress to the mansion, fingers digging into the armrest as she tried to ready herself to watch her character die. She closed her eyes and looked away, waiting to hear the screams of pain when the Curious Cat attacked.
“Get away from me!” the Ruby actor yelled out.
Ruby slowly opened her eyes as she listened to the fight, catching out of the corner of her eye the actor playing her “killing” Neo and the cat, freezing up as she spoke under her breath. “That’s… not how it went.”
“I think I like this ending a bit better,” Yang said as she whispered to Ruby. “A lot less panic.”
“Yeah…” Ruby watched the rest of the play as the actors went through the door in the tree to Remnant, the lights going out and the curtain closing. As the actors came out for a bow and the audience stood up to cheer for them, she slipped away to find who wrote the play, almost annoyed that the story had been changed even slightly. It was her that had died in that mansion, not the cat or Neo, and while she should’ve been thrilled to see everything changed, it almost felt insulting.
She finally found the playwright, putting a hand on their shoulder and pulling them towards her. “That’s not how the Ever After-” her words nearly stuck in her throat when she saw Neo’s pink eye staring at her, slowly moving her hand away. “-went. But… you know that.”
Neo gave a small nod taking a step back from Ruby as she slowly signed. “I want people to think I died there.”
“Why? That’s not…” Ruby let out a sigh and looked away from Neo, her own thoughts of dying coming back to her. It had all happened so quickly, feeling the cat push it’s claws deep into her, the way she lost consciousness after drinking the tea, not wanting to be herself anymore and accepting that as a hero, she was going to die sooner or later. “You’ve changed, just like I have. You dont have to let people think you’re dead to hide that.”
Neo brushed her brown hair out of her eyes, revealing the pink eye that Ruby had caught. “Its better this way. A… a fresh start as Roman would call it.”
“A fresh start. I guess that’s something we all need.”
“But I hope you enjoyed the play. I need to make sure the actors arent getting overwhelmed.”
Ruby watched as Neo hid her pink eye again and started to make her way backstage, a slow breath escaping her lips. She turned away to start walking back to her own team, more relaxed now than she’d been in a while. “Good luck on your new life, Neo. Maybe I should follow your lead.”
