It was a surprise for Ruby, but mostly because she just hadn’t thought it through.

As she kept on walking, not being sure if her words would help her brother or not somehow, she realized that once they crossed the bridge, she didn’t see people carrying weapons like before. There were a few here and there, but mostly she saw normal people.

Some were carrying baskets with food, wood gotten from a forest somewhere, or were doing menial labor like that one group of women doing laundry by a well. They were just flat-out normal citizens from what she imagined was closest to some kind of very old European city. They even behaved like them, as many gave her the stink eye and looked at her in disdain, quickly falling into whispers and gossip as the pair walked.

Now, unlike the other side of the bridge, the houses here were all a lot smaller and were all over the place. It was giving strong favela vibes, as houses were on top of each other all the way to even fifth floors. Streets were narrow and there was barely any room to walk by with the exception of the main road. It was like they had told the populace of hundreds of thousands to make do with the room they had, room which was never meant to expand.

The part that was still rocking her nerves were the not-humans. Most of them were the Demons, like Xanis, but there were a few others that caught her attention. There was a guy who had this huge squirrel tail reaching all the way to his head, and a woman with very long and pointy ears she would categorize as an elf, but didn’t want to label yet.

“Who knows, maybe they burn the racists here.” She smirked at the twisted thought, but then posed her eyes on his brother, who had kept the happy attitude all this time. At least she could feel relieved she was giving a gesture in kind and made him happy.

She really felt like she needed an ally and someone she could trust in this new land. While she had no intention of telling him about her situation, mostly because she lacked more knowledge about this place first, Ruby was more than aware now that Theo was a good brother. He really cared for her and felt like shit knowing her former self was kind of a wreck.

She still didn’t know what caused her to be so beat up and how she got so many bruises though.

******

Ruby raised an eyebrow when she noticed where they were going. After following the main road for quite some time, they eventually started to take the alleys and go through different paths until they were in front of a pale red crumbling building with a sign on top. She knew it wasn’t English, but could still read it, giving her quite the food for thought.

Orphanage of the Holy Night.

“Come on, we’re finally home. You need to get some rest and stay in bed. We’ll see about getting you a mentorship tomorrow.”

The news struck like thunder and couldn’t help but hear her brain go click inside. Now it all made sense. Okay, maybe not everything, but many things, like the fact they both were wearing rags and clothes that seemed far inferior to what most commoners used.

It also made sense as to why he was so protective of her. It made her feel fuzzy on the inside, but the fact they didn’t have any parents also reminded her of home, knowing what it meant to lose her parents at a young age. It had been decades since she lost her parents, so she knew exactly what Theo was going through, and it was probably him the one who had to act as a parent for Ruby. But now? now that she had taken over? She knew she had to make things right for him. She was the adult after all, even if it didn’t look like so from the outside.

With a new goal in mind, she followed his instructions and went inside, hoping her situation wasn’t as dire as it seemed to be.

“You’re grounded young lady!”

She heard from across the hallway the second she got a foot inside, making her freeze in place. Due to the lightning contrast between the outside and inside of the building, she was blinded a little at first, but after a few seconds she could make out a female figure approaching her, quite the stern expression on her face.

Ruby couldn’t help but gulp and look at his brother, but he was just looking at the top corner of the room, completely playing the innocent. “Dude! You already betrayed me?!” She looked at him wide-eyed, but the second his eyes met hers he quickly dodged them, signaling she was on her own.

“You are in so much trouble! Do you have any idea what you just did? You could have ruined this whole house. Come. Now! Clearly you need to be taught another lesson.” The woman was wearing a long brown skirt made of wool and a white simple bodice to compliment the look, though it was covered with an apron on top which had a few stains here and there. “Very medieval I supp-“

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“OW! Ow ow ow ow!” Ruby yelled as she was pulled by the ear up the stairs and into the second floor.

“Theodore. You’ll go to your room right now. You’re not getting the same treatment for at least bringing this troublemaker back. Again.” The woman said as she kept on pushing Ruby to walk at her pace while pulling her from the right ear.

“Yes, Mrs. Sianna.” He replied meekly, looking at Ruby apologetically.

Ruby could only stare back in surprise though. Now she wasn’t sure if Theo had known this was going to happen all along and it was a set-up, or just a happenstance and there was no other choice but to be subservient about it.

Now, the new Ruby knew her former self had been chaos-walking, or so she had gathered, but she wasn’t exactly fine with being the one getting punished for acts she was completely innocent of.

As she was being pushed to walk and went up another floor, she saw many children going about. Most of them seemed younger than her, but there were quite a few here and there that looked about her age or closer to Theo’s at least. She still hadn’t had the time to check her reflection on anything to know how young she looked in detail.

Some of the kids stared back, looking not even the slightest surprised at what was happening, and some even looked at her with smirks and quiet snickers before whispering to someone else. It looked like she wasn’t a first timer receiving this kind of treatment, though that didn’t mean she was comfortable with the situation at all.

Ruby wasn’t exactly the best with younger kids and knew for a fact that they could be unintentionally savage with their comments and straight up honesty. She could attest to that now. Their expressions said it all.

From what she could tell, the third floor seemed to be for girls only. Unlike the second floor, where she saw only boys hanging around.

“Ow!”

While being pulled by the ear did hurt, it wasn’t something unbearable. On the other hand, what really hurt was the walk of shame she was being forced into. As it turns out, the girls were even worse with their snide remarks and giggles.

“Great, I’m not even on Earth anymore and yet high school gossip is as strong as ever. Suppose it’s an interdimensional thing at this point.” She thought while trying to follow the older woman as best as she could.

“Of course my room is the one at the very end.” She thought seeing they were still not stopping and going all the way to the back.

She had thought about arguing back, saying that she was sorry or something, but after the disdain everyone was showing her, she couldn’t help but think that would just worsen things or it wouldn’t cut her any slack whatsoever. Might as well just keep quiet and avoid getting herself even deeper in something she can’t escape.

Once finally in the last room of the third floor, she saw there were a bunch of beds really close to each other, with the exception of the one at the end that seemed to be completely on its own. No other bed around for several feet. The old wooden bed frame had things like ‘Future-breaker’ or ‘Thief’ written all over, some done with what seemed charcoal and others blatantly carved with a knife or something with an edge.

“You’re to stay here and only here until you finish your punishment. You even think about leaving and let me tell you young lady that both you and your brother are left in the street in a heartbeat, did I make myself clear? This is the very final warning I’m giving you. I’m done with your games.”

“Y-yes,”

“Yes what?”

“Yes… Mrs. Sianna?” She wasn’t sure if she pronounced it right after hearing it only once. She only got a raised eyebrow in response.

“At least you’re not throwing a tantrum this time. But don’t get me wrong, you think I don’t know what you did? You’re not getting out of this one that easily.”

“W-what did I do exactly?”

“Foolish child, playing dumb now? Should have seen it coming from you. Next time you try to steal from a guilder, better count your blessings. You’re lucky they left you alive.”

“Didn’t actually feel like that…”

Ruby couldn’t blame the woman for the insult, as she was fishing for an answer like that. It was either act dumb and get an answer to the enigma she had from the very beginning, or don’t say anything at all and let the question fester her thoughts.

“Now, as for your punishment, you know that winter is coming.”

“I-I know” Xanis had said the same thing, and Theo mentioned how he would turn sixteen this winter too.

“Thus, in order to teach you [Discipline] and make sure you stay out of trouble until Awakening Day, you are to start knitting until you run out of wool. Understood?”

The mistress said with an attitude and smirk, as if knitting would be the end of Ruby’s life and the ultimate punishment, but she couldn’t help but just stare at the woman.

Just like a walking meme, she just stared at her thinking “what? Just… knitting?”

Mrs. Sianna, however, took this as a challenge and immediately spoke. “Quiet now, huh? Where did all of that attitude go? You think that’s all I have? You also need to take on the wool from all the other girls.” She said smugly, pushing a big basket from behind one of the bed frames filled with wool of bland colors. Ruby, however, couldn’t have been more ecstatic and, with a restrained smile, just replied:

“I shall do that then.”