Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Diary of a Wilted Rose
“Dear Diary,
It’s me again, and I have a lot to write to you today, so I guess I’ll start with the visit with dad and uncle Qrow. The doctors let us have some extra time to catch up with them today, and because of that, we learned some good news! Dad is back to work, and that was amazing to hear. I’m glad that he’s starting to move on from...well...I’ve already told you about mom. And even better, we heard that he’s been drinking far less than before too. I know it’s probably still hard on him, but I’m proud of him for getting back on his feet.
There wasn’t really anything new from uncle Qrow aside from some new work stories since that last time we saw him. He had to leave some of the details out because of his line of work. I think he’s a secret agent? But he’s never really elaborated on it, so I don’t know for sure. Then again, classified information kinda comes with secret agent territory. But on the other hand, I’d be surprised if he really was some sort of undercover agent. He drinks. A lot. Definitely more than what’s healthy, and most certainly more than what would probably be allowed in secret agent work. But regardless, we enjoy his stories anyway because they’re so fun and exciting compared to our usual day.
And aside from his stories, uncle Qrow made his usual dirty jokes. Some I understood and wished I didn’t, and others I didn’t understand. But based on dad and Yang’s reactions, I think it’s safe to say that I probably don’t want to know. Luckily, dad and Yang threatened him with dad jokes, which uncle Qrow absolutely hates, and he stopped immediately. They told some lame puns and jokes anyway, but there were a couple that I laughed at when they were actually funny. If I’m being honest, I don’t mind Yang’s dumb jokes. I’m just glad she can keep a sense of humor even with what we go through every day.
And speaking of, Yang’s been doing super well lately with her tests! She had wanted to keep her latest achievement a secret until we got to see dad and uncle Qrow. And the news was awesome! She told us that she was able to punch her way through the world’s strongest metal the other day! The doctor let us see the video footage when uncle Qrow said he didn’t believe her. It was so cool to watch! Though, we were the only ones allowed to watch the video since we’re all related. All of our friends had to take our word for it since we aren’t allowed to use our forcibly-given abilities outside of our testing rooms.
Oh, and my tests are going super well too! I can move faster than the fastest animal on the planet. I forget its exact name, but it’s a falcon. I think. Anyway, it can fly over two-hundred miles an hour, or about three-hundred-twenty-two kilometers if you wanna be fancy like Blake. But moving on, I can get myself up to three-hundred miles an hour if I really strain myself, though it doesn’t last for very long. That, and I’ve only done that once and I passed out afterward. Doctor Valore said that I’d pushed myself too hard, and that we won’t do that speed very often for right now. On the bright side, it had knocked me out so hard that I was able to sleep through the lingering pain that was there after my injection.
Have I ever talked about that here? The injections, I mean. Because I don’t think I have, and I’ve been writing here for years. The doctors here inject all of us patients with some sort of mystery liquid, and I don’t even think that they know what its contents are. I do know that Doctor Valore doesn’t like doing it to me, but the company she’s employed by can easily make her disappear, so she stays.
And the other thing is that...the mystery liquid hurts. More than I could even possibly put into words. I’ll try just for the sake of getting it out there, but it might not be totally accurate. So, I guess, here we go.
It’s...it’s like thousands of knives digging into my skin, but imagine that they’re the temperature of molten lava. And I guess...triple it, or even more. It may only last a couple of minutes, but it feels like it lasts so much longer. And no matter how much I scream, it doesn’t do anything to help the pain at all. And it’s so bad that we have to be strapped down to the chairs we have to sit in for it.
I just want to be done with all of this! The injections, the tests, being trapped in this building disguised as a hospital; all of it! I don’t know how much longer I can do this until it becomes too much for me to handle. It’s already too much to handle, but I try to hang in there for Yang’s sake. For dad and uncle Qrow’s sakes. And...and for mom. I try to power through because I know she’d want me to keep living on.
This all started eleven years ago, when I was just four years old. And I’m sure that you’re wondering what kind of lunatic would do this to a child that young, but I only have part of that answer. His name is Jauques Schnee. Yang likes to call him “the bastard with his head so far up his own ass that he thinks he’s better than everyone else in the world.” I’ve never met him in person, but he’s the CEO of this horrible place. I never bothered to learn the name of this dumb building because if I ever get out of here, I’m never going to use it.
Yang and I aren’t the only ones going through this testing either; if you can even call it that. It’s more like torture. There are a lot of people here ranging from small children, all the way up to the elderly. And the elderly...a lot of times can’t handle the level of pain the injections come with, and they end up losing their lives because of the shock.
I guess there is a super small silver lining though. We’ve at least made some friends here that are Yang’s age. The first person that we ever opened up to was Blake. I think I told you about her before; black, wavy hair and golden eyes. Oh, and that she’s a cat faunus. Though that’s a secret, so try not to get discovered. Faunus are treated really badly, and I don’t want Blake to go through that. She can make shadow clones. It's super cool because it’s almost like she’s an anime character with that ability! She doesn’t improve it purely out of spite. Me and Yang think it’s hilarious. So for now, it only briefly looks like her before it disappears after a few seconds.
And of course, there’s our other friends too! I’ve mentioned them before, but I don’t ever think I explained their abilities, so I’ll do it now. There’s Pyrrha, who can control the positives and negatives of magnetism; Nora, who can channel electricity through her muscles, and the output of it too; Ren can mask emotions, which is really only helpful out in the wild; and then there’s Jaune. The doctors haven’t been able to figure out what his ability is yet, and even brain scans haven’t been helpful. So for now it’s a waiting game.
Oh, and before I go, there’s been some rumors going around lately. I’ve only gotten bits and pieces, but it’s awful to hear about it. Apparently the CEO is putting his kids through all of this along with the rest of us. I’ve mostly heard that it’s one of his kids in particular that’s supposed to take over this company when he retires. I can only hope that isn’t true. It’s such a cruel thing to think about. How could he even think about doing that to his own kids?! I swear that if I ever meet the one who’s supposed to take over, they’re getting a big hug. But for now, I’m feeling sleepy, so I’ll write some more later. Goodnight.
-Ruby Rose”