The Missing Parents Club

Train Ride

Ruby:

'Penny!', 'Sandy!', 'Ms. Mellicaid!'. I saw flashes of orange light and remembered the scorching heat of the flames all around me.

I woke up yet again to the sound of screams, just that these were mine "by!-uby!- Ruby!" I bolted straight up. I looked around, we were in the cave 'So it wasn't just a nightmare' I thought as a tear rolled down my cheek. Oscar hugged me and I saw that everyone else was already awake too. By the purple and pinkish hue that was coming from the cave's roof, I guessed it must've been very early in the morning. 

Emerald's eyes were puffy and so were Nora's and Neo's. Mercury was sitting in the corner of the room not even looking at us and Ren was rubbing Nora's back comfortingly while staring at the floor frowning.

"Ruby you were having a nightmare, are you okay?" asked Oscar. I looked at him and silently shook my head, he hugged me again and I hugged him back. After some more seconds of silent cries, Neo snapped her fingers meaning that wanted to tell us something.

We all looked at her direction and she signed 'So, what's the plan?' I was a bit confused "What do you mean by that Neo?" asked Ren. Neo frowned 'I mean what now? Carnac's gone and so is Ms. Mellicaid we don't have anywhere to live and we can't just stay here forever' I frowned too, she was right. 

"Guys-" Nora stood up "Neo's right, we can't sulk here forever believe me I too miss them very much but we need to do something, I say we stick to the original plan" I raised an eyebrow in  confusion "What plan?" I asked her. Nora looked over to me "Our initial plan, train, learn how to fight, then head to Beacon, get scholarships, and become Huntsmen and Huntresses" this got everyone's attention, even Mercury had come from out of the corner.

~~Play Music Now~~

"Yesterday we didn't act like Huntsmen and Huntresses so it's time we start, we already know how to fight-" I cut her off "-Now we go to Beacon" We looked at each other, small smiles miraculously on our faces. Oscar looked at me "Okay, what now?" he asked I felt queasy by just thinking about it "If we run we might still catch the train going to Vale" I couldn't believe what was happening, it all felt unrealistic "But wait you have to be 18 to apply, we're still underage" said Mercury. Emerald shook her head "No problem we'll just lie and say that we're 18" my small smile was getting bigger "Well Neo, this is our plan" I said and everyone nodded.

We got up slowly and quickly packed anything we might need into our backpacks. Some of Summer's books, our weapons, ammo, and of course the picture of our mentors, team STRQ. Then we headed out of the forest and ran to catch the train. Careful not to run into any Grimm, but when we got there the train had just left the station "No! Wait!" screamed Nora "Don't worry I know a shortcut" I assured her and changed directions to the east side of the forest "Um, Ruby what exactly do you mean by 'Shortcut?'" asked Oscar "You'll see~" I promised.

We turned and ran finally I found what I was looking for "A cliff!" shouted Emerald "That's your shortcut!" I didn't respond and we ran until the edge. The railroad wasn't that far below "How is this a shortcut?" asked Mercury "Wait for it~" I said, just then smoke came from the west and the train came into view it followed the railroad and passed right underneath us.

"Jump," I said firmly "Wait-what! You want us to jump off a cliff into a fast-moving train without breaking our necks and dying!?" exclaimed, Mercury. I laughed "Pretty much- Landing strategies!" I shouted and jumped off. 

I took Cresent Rose out together with some ammo and my semblance I managed to land in an explosion of petals. Neo simply jumped off and opened her Umbrella, she landed gracefully a few carts away from me. Emerald stabbed one of her sharp hooks to the cliff and rappelled to the train.  I didn't see Nora's and Ren's but I'm assuming it didn't go as smooth as Neo's or Emeralds' because when I turned around Ren was lying on the train face-down with Nora on his back. It was now Mercury's turn he simply jumped off and used some ammo to cushion his fall.

At last, was Oscar he jumped and quickly climbed down the rocks from the side of the cliff getting as down as possible when the rocks weren't wide enough he jumped to the train and absorbed the shock of the fall with a landing roll. Once we made sure everyone was safe Mercury looked at Oscar and exclaimed: "Your girlfriend is crazy!" Oscar smirked whilst looking at me "Yeah, I know" he said.

Suddenly his smirk was wiped off his face and replaced with a look of horror "Tunnel!" he yelled I turned around and he was right you could see a tunnel coming closer. We ran and met up where Emerald was "We need to get inside, now!" said Ren "But we can't just drop in! We don't have tickets and if someone finds out we snuck in they'll kick us back out plus you all know this is the only train going to Vale in a year!" exclaimed Nora.

"Wait-" I said remembering something "-This is also a freight train (A cargo train) we can get in one of the wagons with the cargo" everyone nodded and followed me to the last wagon. We saw a hatch and I tried to open it but it was too tight "It-Won't...Open!" I breathed out whilst trying to open it.

"Here" Nora bent down and so did Neo, Oscar, Emerald, Ren, and Mercury. Soon all of us were pulling on the hatch when we were just 7 wagons away from the tunnel, the hatch opened. Nora went in first '6 wagons' I thought, then Ren '5', Emerald went next, '4', Mercury followed, '3', Neo slid in, '2',  Oscar jumped in '1!' I jumped right in missing the tunnel by inches.

We landed in a dark compartment I could only make out the border of some boxes "Guys?" I asked and got 6 "Yes?" in response. We stayed quiet for some seconds "Now what?" asked someone, I couldn't figure out who though.

"I don't know Merc but we'll figure something out," said Oscar from beside me. The voice spoke again "...I'm Emerald" then Mercury exclaimed angrily "Oscar Pine! My voice is not that high-pitched!" we all laughed until our stomachs hurt. After a while, After I had calmed down I suggested we get some sleep since it was a long way until Vale.

"Good idea, we should take watch turns in case someone comes or if we arrive," said Ren "I'll go first," I said not thinking I could sleep right now. Everyone else went to sleep except Oscar who insisted on keeping me company.

"We are finally going to Beacon," he said after everyone had fallen asleep "Yeah, It's surreal," I said. 3 seconds later I spoke up "Oscar...are you worried?" I asked "For what?" questioned Oscar back. I fidgeted a bit before answering "You know...Beacon..." Oscar raised an eyebrow "What about Beacon?" I sighed "I mean...If we get in it's going to be our home for the next 4 years and we don't even know anyone there or how it's like." some seconds passed and Oscar said something I wasn't expecting.

"Hey, remember what Ms. Mellicaid used to say?" he whispered tears running down his cheeks "A home doesn't need to be a house-"

-"and a family doesn't need to be related" I finished and silently cried with him. We spent the rest of our watch turn telling each other our favorite memories of Carnac. Then it was our turn to go to sleep.

This might've been the day of Ms. Mellicaid's death, my only mother figure, this might've been the last day in Sandy and Penny's short lives. This might've been the day our home was destroyed and we were forced to flee and this might've been the day we lost it all but I'll always remember the scorching fire burning down our home, I'll always remember this day as the day of The Fire. The beginning of our adventure.