Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yang drummed her fingers on the table. She was bored, bored, bored. 

She was a squad leader, special forces, not built for all this… bureaucracy. 

For the third time in five minutes, she shifted in her seat, eliciting a squeaking noise from the chair.

Across the table, Oscar shot her a sidelong glance, and she stilled.

Looking for a distraction, she focused her attention across the table at her friends faces.

Nora looked just as fidgety as she felt, the her turquoise eyes darting around the room, lingering on the exits as she drummed her fingers on the table.

On Nora’s right sat Ren, her partner in all senses of the word. He had Storm Flower out, and was mindlessly tracing the blade, his spine straight. 

Paranoia wasn’t a super good look on them, but since they were involved in infiltration, Yang figured they deserved a pass.

Besides, as far as prices paid for living went, paranoia was relatively light. It wasn’t like they had lost any body parts or anything…

Shaking her head, she dispelled her thoughts. Not falling down that mental hole today.

Instead, she turned to study Jaune. He appeared to be deep in thought, scribbling something down in his notebook. Probably coming up with some life-saving treatment for that hospital of his, or maybe some awesome tactic to kick Salem’s ass.

So, she resisted the urge to flick a paper ball at him. Even if he was in prime paper-ball flicking position.

Just when she thought that she wouldn’t be able to stay still a moment longer, the door opened up. Yang was on her feet in an instant.

It was Blake, and suddenly her dull world brightened.

She looked tired. Yang was immediately filled with the desire to kiss away the bags under her eyes, or at least maybe get her to lie down for a nap.

Besides the obvious exhaustion, she looked… strong. Unflappable. Powerful.

The wave of love for her girlfriend was too much, and in an instant she wrapped her arms around Blake, squeezing her.

This was how it should always be. Blake, in her arms. 

She released her, and patted her down. “Any new injuries?” she said anxiously. Blake being stationed in Menagerie as the Commander of the New White Fang meant that she was in danger more often than not, and in a place that Yang couldn't immediately rush over to like she would like.

Blake smiled at her. “Nothing for you to worry about.” She said softly, a teasing look in her amber eyes.

Relived, Yang leaned in and gave her a long, long kiss. 

After their greeting, she took Blake by the hand and they sat down as Blake greeted their friends.  

After a little bit of idle chatter, Yang was broken out of her love-induced haze with a frantic thought. “Where’s Weiss?” she asked. 

Weiss was a Dust Specialist, and one of the best in the whole Four Kingdom’s Army. Yang frantically reminded herself of this fact as she waited for an answer. Nothing could have happened to her… right?

“We’re going to have to go on without her.” A new voice spoke. She turned towards the door, and was greeted with the sight of her Uncle.
“Uncle Qrow!” She said happily, and gave him a strong hug. He was like a block of wood in her arms, but she didn’t care. 

When she pulled away, he looked at her, every bit as twitchy and tired as everyone else in the room. As Oscar’s Spymaster, she knew that he had earned it.

Not that the rest of them hadn’t.

Yang shook her head. “What happened to Weiss?” she asked anxiously. 

“We lost contact with her.” he said, exhaling a short breath. “We had a man monitoring the situation, but I haven’t heard from him in a while.” 

Yang clenched her fists. It could be worse, she knew. But she didn’t like it. 

Her first instinct was to demand to know where she was and go there immediately, but if Qrow was telling them that it wasn’t urgent, she could hold off. For now.

She took her seat, patting him on the shoulder meaningfully to let him know that she wanted to stay updated. Then, the meeting began.

For four agonizingly long hours, the group of six deliberated troop movements, losses, tactics, and supply routes. By the end of it, everyone looked even more exhausted. They were about to break for lunch when they heard a commotion from the outside. 

Yang’s instincts were lighting fast from years on the battlefield, and she had her gauntlets activated before she could blink. Some action in the middle of this boredom!

An attack would mean that their position was compromised, though, which wasn’t good.

But still, action was action.

She assessed the situation as soon as she was out the door, her friends hot on her heels. One of the guards was holding a pair of binoculars, and pointing at the distance. Around him were a group of other guards, all looking very alarmed.  

“There's something coming this way! Something… fast.” he said, his arm trembling slightly.

“Is it a Grimm?” Yang asked him, activating her gauntlets as she stood with Blake. She itched to grab the binoculars out of his hand and evaluate the situation for herself, but she knew it would be better for her to have both hands free. 

“No it’s too… red for that.” 

She froze like Weiss had dumped ice dust down her back. “Did you just say red?”

“My god!” one of the other guards said. 

“It’s the Reaper herself!”

The confirmation was enough to snap Yang out of her momentary freeze-up. 

She was here. 

Well, Fuck. They were all gonna die. 

She loaded her weapon and slipped into the attack formation that her friends were standing in, with the guards flanking them.

Then, they waited.

*****

The following length of time seemed all too long yet all too short, with a thousand thoughts burning in Yang’s head. Why was she here?

Yang would have to wait to find out from the source herself.

The sound of underbrush being crushed got louder and louder, and Yang tensed. 

Here it came. 

Then through the bushes burst Salem’s Reaper, formerly known as Ruby Rose.

However, it wasn’t the elegant, brutal attack that Yang had been anticipating. 

It wasn’t an attack at all.

Ruby had gracelessly slipped out of her speed form as soon as she had gotten into the clearing, and tumbled to her knees. Her cloak was drawn and her hood was up, but under it Yang could see that her silver eyes looked clouded and desperate. 

“Please, help her!” she said, her voice sounding rough. 

Her cloak fluttered in the wind, and underneath it revealed a very, very pale looking Weiss.

There was blood on her dress, and her arm looked bound in a crude tourniquet.

“Help her!” she croaked out again, and that snapped Yang out of her spell.

“Stand down everyone!” Yang said, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest. “Jaune!” 

“On it!” he said, sliding to his knees next to Weiss and The Reaper. 

Yang’s mind was buzzing as she watched Jaune talk to her. “Now I need you to let her go.”

“Let her go?” she asked, seeming dazed. 

“Yeah, put her down.” he said patiently.

She did just that, brushing a strand of hair away from Weiss’s eyes. 

As soon as Weiss was out of her hands, Yang redid herself to strike. But to her shock, out from behind her streaked her Uncle Qrow.

“Qrow!” Ren hissed a warning, but he paid no heed. 

Qrow was already at Ruby’s side, but to Yang’s shock he wasn’t attacking her and she wasn’t attacking him. Instead, they were... talking.

“My cover is blown. But it was worth it. ” Ruby was saying, a hand pressed to her side. She was shaking slightly, and looked like a breeze could knock her over.

“It was worth it.” she said again, her eyes focused on Weiss’s prone form. 

Then her eyes sharpened, and she looked at Qrow with new intensity. “Salem.. She’s got this new…” Then the intensity faded from her eyes as she looked at her side, and pulled away a hand covered in blood. 

“That might not be Weiss’s.” she said quietly, then collapsed over Weiss’s prone form, almost hitting Jaune on the way down. 

“Ruby?” Qrow asked in a panicked voice as he pulled her up.

“What the hell is going on?” Yang asked, shocked by what she had just seen. 

Jaune tossed Qrow bandages. “I need to deal with Weiss first, but I’ll get to her as soon as possible.” Qrow started winding the bandages around Ruby’s midsection and as he did so he spoke.

“To answer your question” Qrow said, looking up at Yang, “Ruby has been in deep cover for the last five years infiltrating Salem's inner circle.”

Chapter Text

One Week Prior 

Weiss was completely, utterly, irrevocably, fucked.

Like, she hadn’t been this screwed in literal years of her life. Not since before the war had started, she reflected, staring at the walls of the disgusting cell. 

Finding out that Ruby was a double agent on Salem’s side had seriously sucked, and her former friends subsequent attacks were uniquely terrifying on both an emotional and physical level.

And Weiss had been in other unrelated binds before, as being one of the top Dust specialist in the Four Kingdom’s Alliance for the past five years came with a more than fair amount of danger.

But in all of those situations, she had a team with her, or copious amounts of dust, or her fighting abilities.

Barring all those, she had one last trick up her sleeve. Something that she could pull off at the last second to win by the skin of her nose.

But this time, she had nothing.

She was in Salem’s army’s custody. 

She had no weapon, no dust, and no aura left. 

Also, her arm was bleeding. 

A lot.

Like, shit-that-was-an-artery-wasn’t-it a lot.

And on top of all that, she was about to be tortured for information, then killed.

She was light-headed, just enough to offset the panic, but not enough to shake the feeling that she was about to die.

What had even happened to her? Her memories before the cell were murky at best. Her and her squad had been on a mission… somewhere? But something had gone wrong, and her team was gone in a flash. 

Had she fought whatever had killed them? She couldn’t remember, but considering her arm the answer was probably “yes”.

The blood from her arm dripped down to mingle with the other mystery fluids on the floor. The place she was being held in was disgusting, probably because it was designated for the previously mentioned torture-than-killing.

To add to the “definitely going to die” feeling was the fact that she couldn't contact her friends, and even if she could, they were halfway across Remnant.

At this rate, she would be dead before word even got to them that she had been captured.

She could only hope that she would bleed out before her interrogator came so that they wouldn’t get any information out of her.

Suicide! Yeah, that would be smart.

Would it even really be suicide if she hadn’t made the wound herself? At this point, it would just be not slowing the inevitable.

With that thought in mind, she started removing her hand from her arm.

Right as she had made up her mind, her cell door creaked open. 

Great. She hadn’t had the chance to bleed out yet, and she was meeting her torturer. She wished that she had some kind of weapon to brandish, to at least give the illusion that she wasn’t completely helpless.

In stepped, of all people, the famed Reaper. 

Weiss’s vision was getting cloudy around the edges, but there was no mistaking her former partner, current… nemesis? Person who she was terrified of seeing?

“You!” she said stupidly. Of course it was her. It was always her.

Weiss breath caught in her chest. Now she really wanted a weapon. It wouldn’t really be helpful to her in this state, but it would’ve made her feel a little bit better.

The Reaper’s face was hard, her mouth no more than a line on her face. It betrayed no emotion beyond stony unhappiness. 

The Reaper was here to torture answers out of her no doubt. Then, to dispose of her. 

She felt her breath growing shallower and her chest tighten. 

“Good luck getting anything out of me.” she said as The Reaper stepped closer. Her voice was wavering, the fear that she felt was no doubt displayed all over her face.

Her hand was outstretched to Weiss. A hand that had killed her comrades. A hand that was going to kill her. She supposed was fitting, that her longtime enemy would be the one to do the deed.

Weiss flinched away, and spat at her.

“Jokes on you motherfucker, I’m dying!” she said triumphantly.

The Reaper’s expression changed. Now, she looked… upset.

“What?” Weiss said. Her blood loss was bad, but that made no sense. She was evil, a killer. The Reaper shouldn’t look at her like that. Like she was conflicted.

She didn’t deserve to be conflicted.

Then, the Reaper picked her up in one fluid motion, leaving no time for resistance. 

Weiss felt fear overwhelm her confusion. What now? She was literally on her deathbed… or rather death floor, but still.

“Let me die in peace, please, if you ever felt any attachment for me.” she begged, the world spinning as The Reaper activated her speed semblance. 

Was she being taken somewhere? Why? To prolong her life and torture? 

She was starting to feel the black close in. Not now, she had to die before she went unconscious! Who knew what would happen while she was out?

Her thoughts were slow, but they scattered quickly as she witnessed the Reaper unsheathe her scythe.

She could only watch as the guards were slaughtered before her eyes. 

“What?” Weiss said dumbly.

“This is a rescue.” The Reaper said as she continued to fight her way through the guards.

Weiss promptly and unceremoniously passed out, her fate in the hands of someone who she had never wanted to see again.

She dreamed of one of the worst days of her life. The day that she had found out about Ruby’s defection.

*****

She had seen Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Yang for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.

She had been very, very happy to see them, but they had all looked more broken than she had remembered. 

It was as if their more childish tendencies had been ripped away forcibly. The light in their eyes were dimmer, and they were more tired and angry. 

Their mouths curved up at the sight of her, though. A little light flooded into Yang’s eyes as they hugged. 

After the greeting had been exchanged, she casually asked the question that had been at the forefront of her mind. 

“Where’s Ruby?” she asked, looking around. 

After the stifling nature of the Schnee Manor, she had been looking forward to seeing her bright and expressive team leader. 

At the mention of Ruby’s name, the tone of the group shifted. Jaune looked moodily down, Nora’s face fell, Ren’s face slackened and Yang angrily made a fist with her non-robotic hand. 

“What happened? Guys?” Weiss asked, her chest seeming to catch on an invisible corner. Not so soon after Beacon. Not so soon after losing Pyrrah…

Lost in her torrent of worry, she missed Qrow’s entrance. She certainly didn’t miss his words, though. 

“Ruby left after the Fall of Beacon. She’s… with Salem now.” The older man said, his eyes downcast. 

“No… that can’t be right!” Weiss said, disbelief filling her. 

“It is.” Yang said. She looked away, but Weiss could still see her eyes glowing red, and full of tears. “She left us. She betrayed us.” 

Weiss staggered a little bit, her legs feeling less like flesh and blood and more like wood. Everything in her heart insisted otherwise. Ruby wouldn’t do that. Ruby would never do that!

Later, Weiss would find out that Yang had been one of the first people to see Ruby after she had defected. 

Later, Weiss would see The Reaper for herself on the battlefield.

But then, she was a naive child who didn’t think that her friend would ever betray her like that. A naive child who, confronted with reality, did the only thing she could and cried.

*****

Slowly, Weiss woke up.

And as she did, the room sharpened into view. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see her her friends.

Yang and Blake were whispering about something, Yang’s non-robotic hand was on Blake’s thigh. They looked concerned.

It had been a while since Weiss had seen them, and she drank in the sight. 

Blake looked tired, and even with Weiss’s sleep-fogged eyes she could make out the dark circles. 

But looking past the bags, intelligence gleamed in her eyes. Weiss could imagine that behind those eyes, she was formulating new policy and legislation to implement. 

Yang looked more scarred then the last time they had met up. Her eyes were also red-rimmed from lack of sleep, the effect made more prominent by the streaks of red in her pupils, disrupting the lavender. 

The price for overusing her semblance.

“Hey” she said to them softly.

Yang and Blake abruptly cut off their conversation, and looked at her, relief coloring both of their eyes. Weiss realized belatedly that the thing making them so concerned was probably her.

“She’s awake!” Yang called, and in through the door plowed Jaune. 

“Thank Dust! You’re awake!” he said. He was scrubbed up, and he also looked tired.

“I suppose I owe my recovery to you, Dr. Arc?” Weiss said, trying to convey a teasing tone through her scratchy voice. 

He tensed at her question, and responded in a measured tone. “I did attend to you, but actually-”

Then through him, and she meant through him, burst Nora. 

Jaune was thrown to the side by her entrance, and Weiss snorted at the startled look on his face.

“WEISS! You’re alive! I was just going to start calling all your good stuff.” Nora said, delighted as she skid to a stop next to Weiss’s bed. 

Weiss winced a little bit at the noise, but grinned nonetheless.

“Was it really that close?” Weiss asked, keeping humor in her voice, morbidly curious.

“Yes.” Ren said, walking through the door and scooping Jaune up to his feet. “You came very, very close to dying. You’ve actually been in a coma-like state for the past twelve hours.”

Ren padded over to her bed soundlessly, and handed her a cup of water. As Weiss drank she tried to process that information.

How had she even gotten to the rendezvous point? She opened up her mouth to ask, then in a flash she remembered the whole thing.

She choked a little bit on her water, almost dropping her glass. Someone took the glass from her hand as she hacked, trying to get control of her windpipe.

She felt a blow on her back dislodge the water, and through teary eyes she thanked Yang, who moved out of her peripheral vision.

“What…” She asked, trying to figure out what to say. She couldn’t exactly ask if their former friend had popped by to drop her off before going off on another rampage or something. 

“Before you ask, she was the one to bring you here.” Jaune said, looking uncomfortable. 

“What’s going on? Where is she now?” Weiss asked, all of her anxieties coming to a forefront. 

Yang shrugged in a way that looked indifferent, but her shoulders sagged in a way that betrayed her feelings. “She came here, to our secured meeting place, then handed you off to Jaune. And after that…”

“After that?” Weiss prompted.

“After that Qrow said she was a double agent.” finished Blake.

Yang let that stew in the air for a little bit, then asked Weiss. “What happened before that?”

Weiss told her, to the best of her memory. 

“Well, the double agent part is consistent, at least.” Blake said, breaking the silence that followed Weiss’s story.

Weiss looked down. The idea that The Reaper’s story could be true, it was… a minefield that she didn’t want to touch right now. Or ever.

She almost preferred the complex emotions of the betrayal rather than this pseudo-betrayal mess of a situation.

A wave of exhaustion hit her, and she tried to hide her yawn.

Jaune zeroed in it like a homing beacon. 

“She needs rest.” he said, steering Ren and Nora out of the door. “You two can stay if you’re quiet.” he said, nodding at Blake and Yang.

Weiss looked at them through half-lidded eyes. Knowing that her team was right there and the rest of her dearest friends were alright and within earshot, she feel asleep easier than she had in a long, long time. 

*****

Weiss dreamt of failed missions, people dying, and flashes of red. 

“Weiss.”

Blood flying around her, bright silver eyes, a once-familiar voice saying “I never cared.”

“WEISS.”

She was falling, falling apart, and everyone was dead.

“WEISS!”

She woke with a start to Yang shaking her awake. The lights in her room was dimmed, and Yang was in the same chair she had been in the last time Weiss was awake. Blake was gone.

“Di-did I disturb you? Sorry.” Weiss said as soon as she found her voice.

“It’s ok.” Yang said. “I get them too.”

That was a side effect of growing up on the battlefield, wan’t it? The constant nightmares. 

“It was about… her wasn’t it?” Yang said carefully. 

Weiss nodded. She didn’t trust her voice. 

“I get them too.” Yang said with a sigh. “I get them too.”

Weiss’s eyes blurred, and she furiously wiped away the tears. “Where’s Blake?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

“She stepped out to freshen up. It’s ok, she’ll be back.” Yang said with a small smile. “Try to get some more rest.”

Weiss took a deep breath, and calmed her beating heart. The adrenaline from the nightmare was wearing off, and she felt herself being pulled back under.

At the edge of her consciousness, she heard the door open, and light footsteps pad in and take a seat.

Chapter Text

Once Weiss had slept off the effects of almost dying, her first order of business, (and only), was to figure out the whole “Reaper” situation.

She knew that the others also wanted to figure it out, but according to them, they hadn’t wanted to leave her side and ask Qrow, the only person who seemed to really know what had gone down, about the truth.

While they were probably very concerned about her, Weiss also had an inkling that they didn’t really want to deal with the situation. 

For one, Nora, Ren, and Jaune had all cared a lot about Ruby at one point, but she had always been more of a “Team RWBY” problem. They weren’t going to be the first ones to broach the subject, that was for sure.

Blake might have done something about it, but she was probably respecting Yang’s feelings about the whole thing.

And for all that Yang was a fighter, her sister was her true weak point. Talking about her sister had never ceased to make her upset in the past, and if Weiss had to guess, she probably hadn’t wanted to deal with it just yet.

Weiss also could’ve avoided talking about The Reaper for the rest of her life, but she had saved her, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it all slightly more than she wanted to avoid it.

And so, friends in tow, she made her way over to The Reaper’s room, where Qrow was keeping vigil.

As she opened up the door, Qrow looked up from his seat aside the bed at the assembled group of young adults and sighed.

“I assume you all want answers?” 

Weiss nodded, a hard look on her face, and a matching look on her friend’s.

“I’ll tell you a condensed version, otherwise we’ll be here all day.” 

The man then pulled out his flask, took a massive gulp, then began.

“Immediately following the Fall of Beacon, I approached Ruby with an offer. She would spy on Salem, and I would use that information to defeat her.”

“Wait a minute, why would you even make that offer?” Jaune interrupted.

“I wanted to win this damn war. And Salem would never be able to resist having a Silver-Eyed Warrior that was also Ozpin’s last hope on her side. Together, we forged a new personality for her. It had to be believable, her reasons for jumping ship. Then, she said goodbye to me, and joined up with Salem. She wasn’t in contact for a while, but once she could the information that she’s been passing off has been invaluable.”

“And… thats it?” asked Jaune.

“I did say a condensed version, didn’t I?” said Qrow. “You should really hear the nitty-gritty from her, anyway.” 

Weiss let the new information roll through her head. It matched up with the very brief bits that the Reaper had told her and her friends. 

But despite the fact that it made sense, it was also utterly inconceivable.

She had been able to avoid actually thinking about the implications of The Reaper being a double agent since she had woke up, but now it hit her full force.

The friend who she had tried to get home but failed had actually never left in the first place. Her greatest failure wasn’t a failure at all. She felt…

Yang got up unsteadily, her eyes red and tear-filled. “I…” she said, her voice shaking. “I…. have to go.”

And with that, she ran out the door, Blake looked at the remaining people in the room for a moment, then ran out after her. 

“Just like that…” Jaune was saying, looking as lost as Weiss felt. His hands fell into his lap, and on the way down his elbow brushed against Nora. She flinched out of what appeared to be a pretty severe disassociation.

“What?” she said, her eyes wide as she twitched again slightly, her eyes on her teammates. 

Ren looked better then the others, but Weiss knew that it was more likely that his freakout was just more internal. “Lets talk about it somewhere else.” he said, grabbing Jaune by the hood of his jacket and steering Nora lightly out the door, shooting a look at Weiss.

Then it was just her and Qrow. After a few moments of stillness, Qrow reached out and grasped Ruby’s hand. 

“She’s too young. You all are.” he said, breaking the silence. 

“That didn’t stop us from fighting in this war.” Weiss said bitterly, her thoughts heavy, her anxieties consuming her.

Ruby was right there, sleeping in front of her, the Reaper who had killed her allies, her former friend who broke her heart, and her nemesis.

And yet she had saved her when Weiss was about to die. They had been on the same side the whole time. All those times Ruby had said what she had, all those times she had almost killed her, all those times Weiss had cried, it was all just for an act…

Weiss had devoted her life to getting Ruby back, or later to killing her. 

Now her purpose had been pulled out from under her. 

What had been real?

Qrow reached out a hand to brush a lock of hair out of Ruby’s face. “It didn’t stop her from sacrificing herself for us.” 

Weiss fled to have her breakdown elsewhere. 

*****

Yang burst through the hallway, out the door, and ignoring the guards,“Captain Xiao Long?” she ran into the forest. The blonde stopped running as soon as she was out of sight of the house, and leaned up against a tree.

Her heart was pounding and her mind was racing. 

Since Ruby had appeared carrying Weiss, since Qrow had told them the truth, she had avoided thinking about it to much.

It wasn’t that hard. Weiss had almost died, and then they had been sitting at her bedside just waiting for her to wake up, waiting to make sure that she was alright, and all she wanted to do was kill who ever was responsible.

Then Weiss had woken up, and relief had come, but with it nagging thoughts.

And now, everything was hitting her all at once.

Ruby had been a spy.

She was so caught up in her thoughts she almost missed the quiet footsteps coming nearing her. 

She snapped up, ready to defend herself, but was greeted by the sight of Blake coming through the trees after her. 

“Yang.” Blake said softly, her amber eyes meeting Yang’s red. That was all Yang needed to throw her arms around her girlfriend. 

“I-I’m just so,” she said after a moment, her voice cracking with emotion, “So confused.”

“Me too. We spent so long mourning Ruby and finding out that the she was never gone is…” Blake trailed off.

“I feel,” Yang said looking down at her girlfriend, “like I should be really happy, or angry, or something.”

“I get it. I mean objectively speaking, I’m happy that I no longer have to fight her.” Blake volunteered as she shifted in Yangs arms.

“Yeah! But like actually speaking I have no idea how to feel about this whole thing.” Yang agreed, some of her frustration bleeding into her voice. “I mean, I was content with thinking of her as… not Ruby. But now…” now, the reality was sprung on her.

It was her sister, and had always been.

Yang couldn’t help but think of the last time Ruby had actually talked to her. The day that she failed as an older sister.

*****

She was sitting in her bed alone, staring out the window, trying to ignore her stump but thinking only of it. 

“Yang” Ruby’s soft voice interrupted her thoughts. “How are you feeling?”

Yang didn’t even dignify that with a response, just turning her head to look at Ruby.

Her sister looked better then when she had first come to see Yang. Ruby’s eyes were no longer filled with sadness but rather with resolve. Something had changed. 

Ruby sat down on her bed and sighed, looking out the window. “I hope you get better soon. You’re strong, I think- I know you can beat this.”

“There’s nothing to beat.” The words fell out of Yang’s mouth bitterly. “ My arm is gone, Beacon is gone, Penny is gone, Pyrrah is gone, even-” Her voice hitched at the thought of her partner. Blake, who had run away and left her, like everyone else had. Like her Mom had. 

“You’re wrong. We still have things to fight for.” Ruby said. 

Yang would retroactively examine her memories. Had she noticed anything? Were there any warning signs that she had missed? She should’ve asked, she should’ve been a good big sister. 

Maybe that would have changed things. 

But Yang didn’t say anything.

She just stared out the window, consumed by her losses.

She hadn’t known that her greatest loss was yet to come.

She barely heard Ruby leave, but didn’t miss her quiet “Goodbye Yang. I love you.” 

Yang once more didn’t respond.

The next time she would see Ruby, she would already be Salem’s Reaper. She wouldn’t be her sister anymore.

*****

Yang shoved that particular memory into the back of her head. Clearly the situation was more complex than she had initially thought.

“I have so many questions.” Yang said with certainty.

“You know that there’s only one person who can answer them.” Blake said.

Yang let go of Blake and looked her in the eyes. “How do you feel? Tell me what’s going on in your head.” 

“Well, my rational side is telling me that things aren’t as easy as good and evil, I should know that better than anyone, but I can’t help but still feel pretty angry. She was our teammate, our friend, then she was murdering our allies and now turns out she was our friend the whole time?” Blake said, creasing her eyebrows in a deep furrow.

“It’s ok.” Yang said, giving Blake a light kiss.

“Can we stay out here for a little bit?” Blake asked, looking up at Yang. 

Yang nodded. Despite everything, she was here with her girlfriend in her arms. It was going to be ok, as long as they were together.

So, she put her arm around her girlfriend and they stood in silence. 

*****

“Well I guess now we know who Qrow’s “Asset S” was.” said Ren as he rearranged his Dust cartridges. 

He was sitting on top of the table as Nora paced back and forth, with Jaune sitting on a chair to his right. 

“I don’t believe this!” Nora said. “We put our lives in the hands of that intel, and the whole time, it was coming from her.” 

“It was always accurate though.” Ren pointed out.

Nora paused, remembering that Asset S’s information had saved their lives on multiple occasions.

“Still. She betrayed us, she’s not trustworthy!” she said, continuing pacing.

“Who do you trust?” Jaune said with a snort. 

Ren briefly paused his idle dust organization at Jaune’s words, and shifted over so his teammate was on his left.

Now, both him and Nora were between the door and Jaune.

Jaune noticed and rolled his eyes, but didn’t object, having gotten used to his friends behavior.

“Ren. You. Yang. Weiss. Blake. Oscar. I thought Qrow, but since he kept this from us… But see, that’s like six and a half whole people to trust.”

Jaune nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not super on board with all this.” His eyes hardened as he remembered a particular run in with The Reaper. 

Her silver eyes had been dull and flat, her scythe bloodied. Her words had cut them just as the blade had. “I need to kill Cinder. You’d only slow me down from attaining what I need to destroy her. I will do what Pyrrah wasn’t strong enough to do and kill Cinder. Then, I will take her place.” she said, clenching her fist.

Then, she looked at them dismissively. “Besides, you were too weak to save her. You’re nothing but useless. Dead. Weight. And I will cut you off me if it means getting Salem’s favor.” 

Then she had attacked them once more, with deadly speed and grace. 

After that, Jaune had mourned Ruby as if she was as dead as Pyrrah. 

“… I think I get what you’re saying.” Nora was saying to Ren. 

Jaune snapped back into the present and took a deep breath. “I’m not sure how I feel.” He thought of The Reaper’s words but about how she had kept his friends safe. “I need some time to figure it all out.”

Nora nodded. “Thats ok.” she said, striding over to him, throwing her arm over his shoulder. 

Ren placed his hand on Jaune's other shoulder with a smile.

“Yeah” he said as well. 

The three teammates took comfort in each others presence. 

*****

Elsewhere in the house, Weiss was on her scroll looking at a a picture of team RWBY during their time at Beacon. She traced Ruby’s face with a shaking finger. In her mind’s eye, she could see two versions of her former friend. 

The laughing one in her picture, a true friend that would stand with her against the world. One that she had secretly dreamed would stand against her father with her.

Then there was her nemesis, wreathed in flames and blood, the one that she had encountered many times over the past five years.

Which was the real Ruby? That was a question she had often struggled with. She had decided that the killer was the real Ruby, that there was only the Reaper a little while back. But now here she was, back at question was again, thinking that she might have had it all wrong. 

She took a deep breath, trying to steady her spinning mind. 

Instead, her mind turned to the day that still gave Weiss nightmares, the day that she lost all hope for Ruby.

The day that, in Weiss’s mind, Ruby became The Reaper.

*****

It was one of the first true conflicts of the war, and one of the bloodiest. 

Weiss had gotten separated from her team, which she knew was dangerous. But, she couldn’t help it. 

She could feel in her bones that Ruby was here, and she had to try to talk some sense into her.

As Ruby’s best friend, it was basically a contractual obligation. 

Weiss had encountered Ruby a couple of times, but only when she was with the rest of her friends. Each time, it was like ripping open the wound anew. It filled her with fresh and sharp pain to see her friend like that. 

But she had to try. 

With that in mind, Weiss took a deep breath and plunged into battle. She would run into Ruby eventually, right?

And she did. 

But not how she was hoping to.

(Later, she would wonder what exactly she was hoping for.)

She had gotten a call to provide support to a legion under heavy attack, but she had lost radio contact with the commander minutes after receiving the call. 

Coming to the site of the signal, she immediately knew why.

Bodies. 

Men and women were on the ground, their throats slashed open, their heads still on their bodies by only a few sinews of flesh. 

Those still alive were those that only had their limbs cut off, and their groans filled the battlefield. 

Weiss took in a large, shuttering breath.

She was no stranger to death, but this was… excessive. And very, very bloody.

Weiss heard noises coming from the other side of the battlefield, and stepped forward to get a better view, readying her weapon.

But she wasn’t prepared. She wasn't prepared at all.

The person's back was to Weiss, but she would recognize that cloak anywhere.

It was Ruby, slashing a man in half.

At Weiss’s gasp, she turned around, and Weiss was struck by all the red. 

The front of Ruby’s outfit was splattered in blood, and her hands were completely soaked up to her elbows. Her scythe, which Weiss remembered being a point of pride for her, was smeared in blood and gore, crimson drops falling off of it and onto the ground.

All Weiss could see was red.

But cutting through the red haze, Weiss could see Ruby's silver eyes. 

Once expressive, now completely dead. 

Weiss couldn’t breath. Everything was so close. 

“Hello, Weiss.” Ruby said, her tone flat. 

“Ru-Ruby” she said faintly. She gripped her rapier tighter, trying to ground herself, but the blood was everywhere. 

The world had taken on a dreamlike quality, everything was blurry and out of focus. It was like a nightmare. 

But it was real, and that made it much, much worse. 

“I did this. All of this.” Ruby said, her voice still flat. Her eyes bored into Weiss’s soul, chilling her to the bone.

“Why?” the word tore its way past her lips,

“This is a war, Weiss. I can’t get the power I need if we lose.” Ruby said. 

“But what about us? What about Team RWBY, your friends, your… family.” Weiss felt lost, like she was drowning in an ocean. 

“Oh, Weiss.” Ruby moved into an attack position, but Weiss was still frozen. “I never cared.” 

And with that, Ruby attacked and Weiss let out a sob. 

She barely avoiding getting her throat cut, too busy thinking to fight, to busy fighting to think. Her mind was everywhere and no where, and she was completely and utterly lost.

Ruby was her moral compass for so long, the star that lit her way when she left her father. 

And she hadn’t ever cared.

Weiss felt a sting on her shoulder, and knew she had to focus. 

She would die by Ruby’s hand otherwise. 

Weiss, her heart shattered into a thousand pieces, fought for her life that day.

In a desperate gamble to end the battle, she used up all of her fire dust, burning the bloody scene away, and sparking a massive blaze that lasted for the next two weeks. 

The image was forever ingrained in her memory as the last time that Weiss saw Ruby.

She was wreathed in flames and covered in the blood of her allies.

After that, she was only ever The Reaper to Weiss. 

*****

And now… a part of her was jumping for joy. Another was still in shock. Another was already running with the realization and compartmentalizing all the little implications of the revelation. Another was just trying to figure out how to feel. 

The Reaper had saved her, helping her with the same hands that had also hurt her, doing what she had apparently been doing all along, hurting and helping all at once. 

In her minds eye, she could see both of them. The Ruby that hurt and the Ruby that saved.

Back to back, side by side, just like two sides of a coin. Truth and Lies, spinning forever. But which one was the truth and which was the lie? 

Both lies? Both the truth? 

A little bit of each in either?

She didn’t know.

Chapter Text

Qrow moodily took a sip from his flask.

As an uncle, his job was to protect. Protect Ruby, protect Yang. 

Even to protect the other kids that his nieces had adopted as their own family.

(He too had adopted his team as his family, once.)

But instead, he had turned innocent kids into killers.

He should have dug a hole and hidden them all in it as soon as the war had broken out, but he had needed their help.

Leo- that damn traitor- had taken out all of his other options. 

And even before that, with the death of Pyrrah Nikos, they had been involved.

But for all the times that he had plotted out his action in his own mind and seen no alternatives, his explanation to the kids had seemed flat. 

After all, how could he justify what he had asked Ruby to do?  

As he looked down at his niece, he found himself thinking back to the day their plan had first been birthed. It seemed like so long ago…

*****

He had been about to leave after giving Ruby the whole “Silver Eyes plus what went down at Beacon” talk. 

Then, Ruby had asked him an innocent question. “How can I help?”

Of course she would ask that. 

He had a stray thought, a brief memory of another girl- a friend who he had lost.

A friend that would have been so proud to see her daughter turn out like this.

A friend who he had made a promise to, to keep her daughters safe. 

“There is one thing.” he said thoughtlessly, the words falling out of his mouth.

Stupid freaking luck. Why did he say that out loud?

“What?” Ruby asked quickly, her eyes already fixated on his.

“No, it’s a bad idea.” he said, backtracking. But he knew she wouldn’t let it go. Him and his damn mouth!

“What? I’ll do it. Anything to keep my friends safe.” she said, determined. 

“Look kid, I’m not going to lie to you. It’s an effective idea, one that could help us against Salem. But you’d be in serious danger. And it would destroy you. It’s a BAD idea.” he stressed.

“Tell me what it is first!” she said, her eyes glinting.

So, he took a deep breath and outlined his plan. As he spoke, he saw his nieces eyes grow clouded. 

“See? I told you it was a bad idea.” he said after he was done. 

“I’ll do it.” she said in a tone of voice that left no room for questions.

He asked them anyway. 

“Are you crazy? Your father would kill me.” he said, snorting. “Or it would kill him.” he added seriously, thinking about the last time someone close to Tai had left.

“So we tell my dad. But no one else.” Ruby said stubbornly. 

“Ruby, we need information. But to get it, you’ll have to kill people, good people, to get it.” Qrow said seriously. 

“You said that this could keep my friends safe. After seeing Penny and… Pyrrah… fall I never want that to happen again. So I’ll do it.” Ruby said. 

“I’ll do it.” 

*****

Qrow bit back a curse. If only he hadn’t said anything to her! Then he could have saved some of her soul, supported her, kept her safe.

Anyway, he knew that there was no real safety in a war zone. He had watched over Yang and the other kids and they were still pretty messed up. 

He had failed to make sure that they didn’t turn out like him.

It wasn’t a complete disaster, though.

Ruby had provided some crucial information over the years, which kept Yang and the rest of their friends from dying at least.

So that was a win, at least.

But as of late that seemed to be all he could do to help Yang. Stop her from dying.

Which was a win, for sure. But it was a hollow win when compared to his goals.

He wanted to keep her safe, yes. But he also wanted to see her happy. And while dating that Blake girl had done her some good, her mental state hadn’t been the greatest for a long time.

When she had found out about Ruby she had been… livid.

He feared that something within her, something very important, had snapped. 

That was the closest he came to telling her the truth.

*****

“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Yang had yelled, her hand bunching up the sheet of her bed. 

Qrow had been eavesdropping, looking through the crack in the door at Tai’s conversation with his daughter. 

Tai said something that Qrow couldn’t hear, but Qrow did hear Yang’s anguished cry of “SHE WHAT?” and he certainly didn’t miss the loud bang of an explosion. 

His stomach flopped, and he burst into the room, his stomach tight with fear. He found Tai flat on his back on the ground, and Yang still on the bed. Her hands were on her face as she sobbed, but he knew that her eyes were as red as Raven’s.

He tried to get closer to her, but the air around her was blisteringly hot.

He tried to get her attention, yelling “Yang!”, but her anguished cries drowned him out. Her tears looked like molten rock rolling down her arms and pooling up around her. He tried to yell her name again, to try and snap her out of it, but realized he had a bigger problem. 

The house was on fire. 

More specifically, Yang’s bed was on fire. But eh, schematics. 

Qrow flew into the kitchen, grabbed a bucket from the cupboard, filled it up with water and ran back into the room. He poured the bucket on the fire, putting it out with a hiss. 

This gave him a flash of inspiration, and he ran back out and filled it up with more water. 

Then, he ran back into Yang’s room and sloshed the water straight onto her. 

That shocked her enough to deactivate her Semblance. For a second she looked at him. 

A crying, wet teenager who had lost her sibling. 

He opened up his mouth to tell her, to comfort her. Then, still crying, this time normal tears, she threw herself into his arms. 

Hugging her, he turned to look at Tai and motioned him over with his head. 

Tai got up and came over to hug Yang from the other side.

Yangs sobs continued for a long, long time. 

Days after, when Yang had gotten her new arm she had looked at Qrow solemnly and declared to him that she would bring Ruby home.

Qrow nodded, and inside he mourned the fact that she would never succeed.

*****

But now here he was, on the other side of Ruby’s tenure as a spy. The sisters were reunited, and Qrow didn’t really know what it meant for both of their mental states. 

Yang had been content with pretending like Ruby had been dead, and Ruby had been content with playing the villain.

Now, both of their little worlds had crashed down. 

God, he just hoped neither of them took up drinking. 

He knew that they had both seen enough for anyone to start.

Yang had lost an arm before the war had even started, and now she was practically bathing in the blood of the opposing army. 

Tactically, it was necessary for their side to have someone like her. But every time he read her profile, every time he looked at her kill count, he wondered what it was doing to her.

Whenever he looked into her eyes after a hard mission and saw that the red was slowly devouring her eyes, he wondered why it had to be her.

Would he lose Yang too?

And Ruby…

She had to kill people that she knew were doing the right thing. At least him and Yang knew they were on the side of the angels.

(Even if it didn’t feel like it all the time.)

This whole thing had been killing her, to some degree.

And breaking cover like she did, running in covered in blood? Carrying in the younger Schnee? It had taken years off of his life. 

It had brewed other questions, too. Like, why now to break cover? Her friends had been in life-threatening situations many times before. What made this so different?

And for that matter, what had hurt Weiss? She was good at what she did, and whatever had taken her down was going to be trouble, he could tell.

And most important of all, what did Salem have brewing next?

Chapter Text

Ruby’s memories were a funny thing.

In the long years under Salem’s heel, they had been both a source of solace for her, and constant torture. 

She endlessly replayed her times at Beacon, trying to squeeze every last drop of happiness out of them. To sustain her, to keep her going, to remind her what she was fighting for.

But they also reminded her about what she had lost in this hell. 

Her innocence, her hope, her ability to maintain a relationship of any degree with another person…

Back at Beacon, she'd been so sure that her friends would forever be by her side and that the only thing the future held was more adventures to go on together. She had been so sure that eventually they would fix the world, and do it together. 

Then, afterwords, they would get their happy every after.

But it was just a fairytale. Make-believe.

She still loved her friends, if she could still call them that. She still thought that they could do it, they could win the war and defeat Salem.

But the naiveté her younger self had demonstrated was painful to see, even if it was just through memories.

And when she started thinking about the past, she started thinking about the other things she had done. 

Lying in the darkness, she could remember going face-to-face with Salem for the first time. 

*****

As soon as she had been captured, she had asked to be brought to Salem. 

Ruby had walked past her stooges, including Cinder, and kept her head held high, but under her cloak her hands were shaking.

Her life depended on how well she could sell her cover story.

She mentally slipped into her persona, and forced her hands to stop shaking. 

She could do this.

With that mentality, she was brought into the throne room where she knelt before Salem. 

“What’s this?” a cold voice greeted her. 

Ruby looked up at Salem, and almost immediately regretted everything ever. She looked utterly terrifying, like something that you’d see in a nightmare. The description that Uncle Qrow had given her didn’t do the Queen of Grimm justice.

He didn’t tell her about the pulsating veins running down her face.

Or how her eyes were so deep that Ruby felt like she was going to drown.

And he certainly didn’t capture the utter ruthlessness that permeated in the air around her.  

But Ruby would die here if she didn’t keep moving forward. 

“I want to join you.” Ruby said, opting for an open approach.

Salem laughed, just as emotionless as her voice. “Now why would a gentle, smaller soul such as yourself want that?”  

“Because I hate Cinder.”

The woman looked interested, tapping her finger on the arm of her chair. “Go on.” 

Ruby channeled the rage in her heart, injecting it into her voice. “I hate her, and I want to kill her. I know only you can help me.”

Salem looked very interested now, leaning forward. “And you would fight for me- kill for me? Even kill your friends?” 

“Yes.” Ruby said. The image of Pyrrah dying played in her head on loop. “I will do anything to kill Cinder.” 

“Your hatred is that strong?” Salem asked, leaning back again. “Fine. I will take you in. You clearly have considerable talent. But know this- I have eyes everywhere. I am always watching. If you ever betray me, I will not hesitate to strike you down where you stand.” 

Ruby nodded. “I would expect nothing less.” 

“Hazel?” Salem called. “I would like you to show our newest ally to a room.” 

For the next few months, she was constantly under Salem’s watchful eyes as she trained. With nothing else to do, Ruby focused all of her being into it.

As her body improved, she held her mind together with only her iron-clad will to keep her friends safe. 

That, and three things from her former life. 

One was Crescent Rose, her ever-faithful weapon. A comfort that was spoiled over time after having to wash the blood of good men off of it.

The second was her cape, something that she had taken with her simply because she never worn anything else. That too had become spoiled, becoming the mark of The Reaper.

The last was a photograph, her last holdout. When she had left, she had seen it in its frame and had impulsively taken it. It was a picture of team RWBY, with her childish scrawl of “New Friends” written in the corner.  

It was initially stashed inside Crescent Rose, then had migrated to a secret pocket in the hem of her cape. 

She had only taken it out of her cape once in the first few months, mostly because she was afraid of forgetting her friends faces. Little had she known, it wouldn’t be a problem for long. 

*****

She had only been put on a couple of missions so far, and the only notable one of those had been leading Grimm into a village. 

But this one was different. Salem had wanted her to go on this mission with Tyrian, to “gain some experience” and “prove her loyalty.” 

She hadn’t known exactly what Salem had meant by that, but she had a pretty good idea that it would involve someone from her past. 

Tyrian had told her to stay back and put her weapon into its Sniper configuration. He didn’t want her to “spoil his fun”, just back him up. 

Ruby had set up her weapon and peered through the scope. Down in the village, there were six figures.  

Adjusting her scope, she could see Tyrian, which she expected, but even knowing that it was going to be someone from her past, the identities of the other five figures shocked her. 

It was Ren, Nora, Jaune, her sister, and her Uncle Qrow.

After being paralyzed by shock for a few heartbeats, she studied everyone. They all looked good, wearing new outfits. The biggest addition was Yang sporting a robot arm that Ruby immediately wanted to take apart and put back together. 

From the deep recesses of her mind she also noted the accents on Jaune’s armor, knowing exactly where they had come from. 

Ruby wanted nothing more then to jump down there and reunite with them. She wanted to hug her sister and her friends, and to mourn their missing friend with them. 

She wanted to go find the rest of her team and see them all again, and reassure herself they they were alive and safe, and not dead by Cinder’s hand like she dreamt at night.

She wanted to help her uncle who was currently facing off with Tyrian. 

She knew firsthand how dangerous the Scorpion Faunus was.

But, she couldn’t break her cover. She was gaining Salem’s trust, and they would need a man on the inside more than anything else. 

And she would have to fight her friends and sister sooner or later anyway.  She might as well do it now and rip off the bandage.

She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. This was going to be tricky. Then, she started doing what she was good at.

Sniping. 

She shot at Qrow while he fought, which he deflected easily. They were too far away for her to hear, but she saw his mouth moving and his eyes widening. 

Ruby took that as a cue that she was about to have company. 

The sound of Yang’s gauntlets getting closer only cemented that feeling.

She quickly moved her weapon into Scythe mode, blocking the first bullet aimed at her. 

“Ruby!” Yang said. Her voice was full of shock and anger, and her eyes were afire. It was a stark contrast to when Ruby had last seen her sister, defeated in Patch.

Her fist was outstretched, and her mouth twitched like she couldn’t decide whether or not to shoot Ruby. 

With a loud noise Ren, Nora, and Jaune crashed onto the scene. Yang briefly looked at them, and Ruby took the opportunity and attacked. 

Ruby had fallen into autopilot as soon as her sister had appeared, but even through her haze she could hear JNR’s exclamations.

She really, really didn’t want to fight any of them, especially not Yang. Especially not like this, Yang brimming with emotion that Ruby wished desperately to acknowledge but couldn’t.

As the fight wore on, Ruby knew that she had to fight Yang and her other friends for real. This was Salem’s test, and she had to pass.

It was the only way to keep them safe.

With that thought she attacked with new vigor, ruthlessly squashing the feeling in her stomach. 

They fought for what felt like forever, but eventually, she beat them back.

The four of them stood in a half moon around her, keeping their distance while they caught their breaths.

Yang and Nora stood almost back to back, with Jaune and Ren flanking them.

None of their eyes left Ruby.

Then, Yang broke the circle and stepped forward.

Ruby knew what was going to happen. She knew, but she was still caught off guard.

Yang had extended her hand out.

 “Come home, Rubes. Dad misses you. I miss you.” she had said.

Hope shined in her eyes. 

Ruby knew what she had to say, and knew that she couldn't dwell on it.

“No.” 

She said it quickly, ripping off the bandage.

She she saw the hope in her sister’s eyes flicker and die. And with it, a little part of Ruby flickered and died as well.

Then she had sped off, an injured Tyrian in tow, leaving her sister in the dust. 

Her sister would never know about the guilt that threatened to consume her as she ran.

******

That night, before they had made it back to Salem, and while Tyrian was asleep, she had slipped into a tree and looked at her photo once more. 

Looking at the smiling faces of her team, she mentally apologized to Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Nora. 

“I’m so, so sorry.” she whispered quietly, tears fogging up her vision.

She hadn’t let herself cry since going to Salem’s Castle, and the release of emotions overtook her, her tears coming faster.

She wanted to go back, to hug Yang and never let her go. To find the rest of her team and hug them to. 

She wanted to see JNPR talking together, safe and happy.

And most of all she wanted Pyrrah. Ruby could almost see her clear as day, talking with Jaune, radiating quiet strength and humor. 

For a couple of minutes, Ruby allowed herself to mourn for the death of her life.  

But then, the night air whipped around her and her crying spell was over. Wiping her tears, she reminded herself that she had to do this. 

She would never be too slow to save her friends again.

With that thought, Ruby put away the picture. 

*****

As the years went by, she hurt her friends more and more. 

And as they went by, she knew that she was losing the right to call them that.

She actively tried to live in the past, and dismiss her anxieties. Yet the thoughts continued to nag.

How long can one go without having a true conversation with someone and still call that person a friend?

For how many years did she have to fight them and hurt them before she lost that right? 

How much blood could stain her hands before she was a monster?

It wasn’t until the feeling of her blade going through a body, a girl with a hover board, that she knew the answers.

The girls teammates cried out, and as she looked at the four of them a flicker of recognition dawned across her mind.

It wasn’t for three days until she could remember the name of the girl.

Reese Chloris.

They had fought against each other in the first round of the tournament, then fought alongside each other at the Fall of Beacon. 

She had been a good person with her whole life ahead of her, with her own unique thoughts and feelings and memories.

She had hopes and dreams, and had friends she wanted to protect.

But now Reese Chloris, someone who was too young, was dead at the hands of The Reaper. 

Another team missing a piece.

She had done that.

That particular incident shattered the facade holding her together. After that, she knew that her hands were covered in blood, and no amount of spying could ever wash it all off.

She knew that her childish fantasies would never come true.

Her friends weren’t going to come and tell her everything was going to be ok.

Her friends wouldn't tell her that despite everything they still loved her.

After poor Reece, she realized just how childish they truly were.

The only thing that she could look forward to was dying after Salem was defeated. 

That's what was best for everyone, after all. 

She was just happy as long as her friends were alive. 

That’s at least what she told herself as she traced the photo, again and again.

She fought her former team on several occasions.

The four of them were only in the same place at the same time if something really bad was going on.

Her training by Salem was superior to theirs, but there were three of them and only one of her.

When they were together, they were almost unstoppable, their motives combined, with each other to boost themselves up.

The tunes of their pleas changed over the years, going from cries to come home to cries for her surrender. 

She thought that maybe Blake was the first one to lose her faith. 

She was always the smart one.

In the beginning, she wanted Ruby to come home and stop “the madness”.

Ruby wondered if she was seeing someone else who she left behind. Maybe Blake had thought initially she could reach her this time.

But Blake had seen a lost cause before, and knew the signs.

So her pleas stopped.

And Weiss was always the suspicious sort, and never very forgiving.

In the beginning, she had stood alongside the others asking her to come home.

The fact that Ruby had been her best friend probably stopped her from straight-up declaring her unredeemable, but that good faith wore out pretty quickly after Blake’s.

She stopped asking for friendship and started reaching for her sword whenever she saw a red flash.

Yang was always leading the charge for her redemption, and her reconciliation. They were sisters, and had always been close. 

She fell the hardest, asking Ruby to come home increasingly desperately. 

Ruby saw her fragmenting, but she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t leave Salem, not when there was still so much work to be done.

Then a month passed, then two, then six, then Ruby realized that she hadn’t seen Yang in a long, long time.

She was alive and still a thorn in Salem’s side, just seemingly avoiding the Reaper at all costs.

Ruby respected that, and stayed away. It was safer anyway.

Blake went to Menagerie not too long into the war, and buried herself in politics over there, similarly causing problems.

Weiss was really the only one that she consistently ran into, as her self-proclaimed “nemesis”.

She knew logically that that was bad, because running into her meant having to fight her, and fighting her was bad.

But…

Seeing Weiss fulfilled a pathetic need in her chest that demanded to see with her own eyes that her friends were alive.

A ned that selfishly looked forward to their, however violent, interactions. A need that she desperately craved.

Ruby knew she was at least a little bit crazy to look forward to their bloody encounters.

Every time she saw a flash of white hair, she knew what was coming, Their fights played out in an almost repetitive manner.

Weiss always cleared out her squad-mates first, then did something stupid like calling out The Reaper to fight her, one on one.

And then they’d fight, and Ruby would struggle with the torrent of emotions that wanted to overflow out of her.

And as they fought, Weiss would look at her, her icy eyes full something akin to sadness under the overwhelming terror.

That same overwhelming terror that had filled her eyes on the first time she had met The Reaper…

Floating in the darkness, and over the sounds of her memories, Ruby could hear voices. 

“passing off information.”

“….have to go.””

“sacrificing her-”

“aren’t coming back…”

“-need you”

The darkness around her was fading. She was waking up. The voices were growing louder. 

“-alk to you.”

“how to feel…”

“still don’t understand-” 

Ruby opened up her eyes.

Chapter Text

They all ended up in Ruby’s room the next morning. 

Yang and Blake had been talking to Qrow in there when Weiss had passed by for the first time on her way to the kitchen. After coming back with some food for them, she found that Jaune, Ren, and Nora had also turned up. 

Qrow looked very tired, as tired as Weiss felt, but he was patient with them. Looking at him in the morning light with relatively fresh eyes, Weiss could see the guilt in his eyes. Though exactly for what, she couldn’t tell.

They ate while he answered their questions. Ruby, the subject of their conversation, was still asleep. 

Many of Qrow’s answers were along the lines of “She should be the one to answer that.” Weiss could tell that Yang was a little frustrated with that, but Blake stepped in occasionally to point out that Qrow had only been receiving information from Ruby, and wouldn’t know much about her specific decisions. 

In the meantime, Jaune looked at Ruby contemplatively from the foot of her bed while Ren leaned up against the wall, quietly listening in on Qrow’s words. Nora was sitting on the floor, but at some point she got up for food. When she came back she stationed herself at Ren’s side, watching Ruby’s prone form and Jaune’s back. 

Weiss felt herself relax a little bit. Everyone was alright and together. That was most important. She could trust them.

“Look, you still don’t understand-” Qrow was saying when he suddenly fell silent. 

The sudden lapse in conversation startled Weiss out of her thoughts.

The entire room tensed, with Ren and Nora going as far as physically pulling Jaune back instinctively.

Weiss almost grabbed her saber out of pure reflex, but then she noticed what had startled them in the first place.

The Reaper had arisen.

*****

Before Ruby had even opened up her eyes, she noticed three things. 

1. This was not her bed at Salem’s castle. 

2. There were voices around her.  

3. Crescent Rose was gone.  

If her time in Salem’s army had taught her anything, than this was most definitely a trap of some kind.

So, she did the only logical thing. 

She rolled off the bed onto the floor, and in the same movement she moved her aching body into a defensive position and forced open her eyes.

Greeting her was the last people that she would expect to see- her former team, as well as Jaune, Nora, Ren, and her Uncle. 

And not only were they in the same room as her, without any barrier between them, but it appeared as if they had been sitting by her bed.

She blinked. Hard.

And when nothing changed, she eased open her clenched jaws, and forced out the words “This is a dream, right?” 

No one responded to her. 

“This is a really weird dream. Usually you guys would try to kill me or something.” Ruby noted. 

“Ruby, I- This isn’t a dream!” Qrow said.

This wasn’t a dream. This wasn’t a dream. Oh God, this wasn’t a dream. 

She almost fell backwards. “How… did I get here? Where is here? Why is no one trying to kill me?”

Slowly Qrow said, “You ran here. You… saved Weiss’s life. She was going to bleed out.”

“Why does my side hurt- wait, Weiss?” she asked, trying to piece together what had happened. For some reason, she couldn’t remember anything after arriving at the Western camp. She had been investigating something?

“We think you got shot.” Jaune said quietly from behind Ren and Nora. “I was able to help heal it over, but it’s still going to be sore.” 

At Jaune's voice, her vision snapped over to her friends, focusing immediately on a head of white hair.

Weiss looked more tired and thinner than the last time they had crossed blades, but she was up and about, so she was obviously alright. “Do you remember what happened?” she asked her former partner, and was met by a stiff shake. 

She looked at the rest of her friends, her sight lingering too much, probably.

Ren and Nora were very tense, holding Jaune behind their backs. Nora was upright, in a defensive position, where Ren was in front of her lower to the ground in an attack position. 

Yang was gripping the arm of her chair with one hand, and Blake’s with the other. Both women looked surprised and apprehensive, with Yang also looking like she’d rather be anywhere else.

Qrow was leaning forward in his chair, looking more tired than anything else.

“Do you at least remember if you found what you were looking for?” Qrow asked. “In your last report you mentioned that you thought something was awry with Watts, and was going to find out what was going on.”

Ruby searched her memory. “Watts… Watts…” 

Then, she remembered. “Oh no.”

“How bad is it?” asked Qrow, searching her face. 

Ruby bit her lip, and chose her words carefully. “All I really have are rumors, but I heard that it’s got something to do with the missing prisoners. People are saying that he’s doing something to them… trying to turn them into the perfect solders.”

“What in Dust could he be doing?” asked Qrow.

“I heard something about… Grimm-human hybrids.” Ruby said in a low tone.

 “Like Cinder but on a much larger scale?” Qrow asked, worry in his eyes.

“I’m not quite sure. But the guy that I heard it from seemed really, really scared. Something tells me that we need to rescue those prisoners as soon as possible.” Ruby said.

*****

Color Weiss impressed. Begrudgingly impressed, but impressed nonetheless. Ruby had managed to give her report in a professional way despite her little freak out.

Weiss had almost jumped out of her chair when The Reaper had rolled out of her bed, as if she hadn’t just spent two days unconscious from blood loss in bed. 

She would make no mistake, despite the old pajamas that Ruby was sporting, in that moment she was undoubtably The Reaper.

But Ruby was now on the floor, having migrated to sitting propped against the wall. Weiss knew from being out on the field that it was probably to avoid being attacked from behind.

Getting attacked seemed to be something that Ruby was very concerned of. Her eyes were wild, and she looked at the people staggered around the room like she was suspicious of their very existence. 

Why had she broken her cover like that to save her? Weiss had been in plenty of tight spots over the few years, but what made this so different that Ruby made the drastic move that she had?

Something was off about this whole situation, she knew it.  

As she came to her conclusion, she noticed Qrow nodding somberly. 

“That settles it. We have to raid the lab for answers.” Qrow was saying.

Ruby nodded as well. “I don’t know how much about my status as a spy they know about right now, but its a safe guess to make that they’re going to be on high alert.” 

“We’ll have to put together an elite team, and fast. They’ll probably move locations once they know about you.” Qrow said, running a hand through his hair. 

“We have one right here.” 

Everyone looked at Yang, who hadn’t spoken since Ruby had woken up. 

Yang continued. “All of us are strong and have experience working together. We can take this place down.”

Nora nodded. “You can’t get more elite then us!”

“That… might work.” Qrow said, looking up. “We need to hammer out the details, though.” 

“Lets go to the control room.” Ren said. “This isn’t really the best place to be planning an operation of this importance.” 

Qrow nodded. “Someone track down Oscar.” he said while getting up. 

Everyone started to mobilize. Weiss got up as well, and glanced at Ruby. 

She was also getting up, and patting her shirt. “Has anyone seen my cloak?” she said, looking around the room. 

“I, uh, think it’s in the front room.” Weiss said, her mouth dry. Ruby’s eyes fastened onto hers.

For a moment, everything was still. 

Then, Ruby smiled a little bit. “Thanks.”

The spell was broken.

As they walked out of Ruby’s room, she split off. When she reappeared, she was fastening her cloak back on. 

Weiss noticed that she went to put on her hood, then shook her head and dropped her hands at her side. 

They went into the dining room and everyone sat down except for Ruby, who just awkwardly stood behind Qrow.

Standing there with her cloak on and arms crossed, Weiss could once more see The Reaper, standing in a casual position but ready to strike. 

Weiss tried to ignore her and focus on the meeting, but it was very hard.

The Reaper, who had tried to kill her, like a lot, was right there and was… staring at her. 

Not just at her, but at all of them. Her gaze seemed to linger just a moment too long. 

Weiss tried to avoid looking at her while she was looking at her, but it was unavoidable that occasionally their eyes caught each others. 

It reminded her of that one time…

They were making eye contact just like this, sneaking glances at each other. But instead of across a table it had been from across a battlefield. 

Not an actual battle, Weiss rationalized. Not really a skirmish either. Something in between the two.

Weiss had been tasked with working with five other dust mages to maintain an ice barrier behind their forces. To block a pass and prevent them from being sandwiched between two legions. 

It was massive and draining, and making the whole situation worse was the fact that she was also there.

Not attacking the barrier, thank dust.

The Reaper was part of the force attacking them from the front. 

She hadn’t been actively attacking at the time when Weiss had been working on the barrier. Instead, she had been commanding men and Grimm alike in their assault. 

As Weiss had focused on the barrier, she had found herself looking at her former leader, half-thinking about a conversation she had with a now dead man about Ruby’s leadership skills.

If only she had known back then…

On that battlefield, they had maintained the barrier long enough. Reinforcements had come, and she had pretty immediately run off to fight her former leader.

She had been almost exhausted, but she had to try to do something about it. Looking at Ruby for an extended period of time made her want to fight her.

She had been lucky- or at least she had always thought she had been lucky- to escape with her life.

Looking back, Ruby had probably spared her because she actually wasn’t trying to kill her, which was weird.

Because Weiss could remember that day, and remember running onto the battlefield recklessly, almost directly for The Reaper, slaying everything in her path.

She had put everything into her attacks, her eyes heavy with unshed tears.

She had traded barbs with The Reaper, as emotional as ever.

“How could you?” 

It was a question she had asked many times before. She kept on asking it, because she never got a satisfactory answer.

“I did it because I had to.” The Reaper had said.

“But you’re you! How could you?” Weiss’s mind screamed, but she could never quite put it into words. 

Her memory dissolved as she tried to focus back in on the meeting. That was all in the past, anyway.

But Weiss wasn’t the only one who felt uncomfortable. Yang was determinedly not looking at Ruby, and Nora and Ren didn’t turn their backs to her. 

She only spoke a few times during the meeting to clarify on details of the lab, but whenever Ruby did silence struck the room.

The meeting seemed to drag on forever, and once they were excused for lunch Weiss could feel relief sweep the room.

Unfortunately, the mood followed them to lunch.

Weiss remembered from their time at Beacon that Ruby had never been the smoothest person in the world, and that combines with all the baggage in the room meant that conversation was stilted at best.

“Nora, Ren…” Jaune said with a sigh as he tried to move them. 

They were sitting very close to him on either side, with Nora openly staring at Ruby. Ren was also observing her, just more subtly than his partner.

Neither of their stares appeared very angry or suspicious, just intensely curious. 

Weiss understood them sitting so close to Jaune. He was no slouch in the field, but he was more of a tactics guy than pure muscle.

Take the fact they they had already lost someone who they thought was invincible and the fact that they typically worked high-stress jobs, and you got two people who were very concerned for their teammate. 

“So… Ruby…” Jaune said with a sigh. 

Weiss felt the whole room tense. 

“What’s been… going on?” 

A little part of Weiss withered up and died. Jaune was the second most awkward one there, but he made first contact anyway… it was a bold but ultimately damming decision.

“Nothing… much.” Ruby said, sounding almost confused.

That was good. What had Weiss expected anyway? It wasn’t like she could talk about the past five years in any capacity without stepping on a minefield-

“What, haven’t broken any more families apart recently?” Yang said angrily.

It was then that Weiss remembered Yang’s whole job was basically stepping on minefields.

Dammit, Weiss was hoping to avoid this conversation forever.

“Uh… no. I’m… sorry about that.” Ruby said, leaning back in her chair, fiddling with her fork.

“Is that like a blanket apology for everything or just for that?” Weiss asked, her mind running back to their various confrontations over the last five years.

“Just that, I think. I should probably apologize for all the other things individually.” Ruby said with a throaty chuckle. “Lets see… I’m uh, not really sure where to start.” Ruby said, looking at Jaune, Ren, and Nora. 

She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for saying all of the stuff that I said, about like not caring and… everything else.”

“It was… just to maintain your cover though, right?’ said Blake.

“Yeah, of course. It was still really bad, though.” Ruby said. “I’m also sorry for hurting all of you, physically.”

As Ruby said it, she looked over at Blake, who looked down and rubbed her arm.

“I’ve know that I’ve hurt a lot of people. I’ve killed a lot of people, good people.” Ruby continued, flexing her hands. “I can’t make up for it.”

Weiss thought back to all the people that she had known that had died in the fight against Salem. They had just been trying to help, and The Reaper had killed them. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She opened up her mouth to say something to The Reaper, but she was beaten to the punch. 

“Not only that, but you still haven’t apologized for leaving in the first place!” Yang said angrily.

“I can’t apologize for that.” Ruby said, suddenly stony-faced.

“You.. don’t regret it?” asked Blake, slightly offended.

“It kept you all safe. I won’t apologize for that.” Ruby’s eyes had hardened, in such a pure Reaper expression that Weiss took a step back. 

“But it caused all of you a lot of distress, and I apologize for that.” she said, her eyes softening. 

“Distress?” Yang said, standing up. “Yeah, I am distressed! You joined Salem!” her voice rose in volume. “Then we all ran after you over and over again, even though it was killing us to see you like that!”

Ruby flinched. “I know.” she said quietly. 

“And thats the worst of it! While we were crushing ourselves you knew this whole time how bad it was hurting us! You could have stopped and said something, anything! You just watched while all of us slowly lost hope!”

“I wanted to protect you!” Ruby said.

“I thought that we were going to protect each other. We were a team!” Yang yelled.

At that, Ruby’s eyes flashed. “I wasn’t going to watch anymore of you die because I was too slow!” The whole room went somber. 

“And look, you're all still here.” Ruby said, gesturing at the full room. 

“But at what cost?” Weiss asked, thinking over all the time that she and her friends had spent thinking, fighting, and crying over Ruby.

“I did what I had to. And I will until this damn war ends and I can…” Ruby’s voice caught, and she turned away, her mouth closed in a hard line. 

“You left.” said Yang softly, her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m… sorry.” said Ruby.

Then, as The Reaper had so many times before, she turned around and made her escape, her cloak fluttering behind her.

Chapter Text

Ruby was training behind the house.

With each slice of her blade she executed, she could hear her friends accusations. 

Well, it wasn’t like they were wrong about her. 

She could remember bloody battlefields, and at her feet, dead solders from the Four Kingdom’s Army. 

Limbs hewn off, throats cut out. 

Gore splattered on her shoes and on the ground.

The smell of death perforating her every pore.

She could see a white figure in the distance, and in her memory she tensed herself for the coming battle. She pulled her scythe into position behind her to boost her speed, and squeezed the trigger-

Then something touched her back, and she snapped her out of her memory.

She moved in an instant, almost slitting the throat of the person that had interrupted her.

“Geeze kid, be careful with that thing.” Qrow said, pushing down the tip of her scythe.

“Sorry, I’m still jumpy.” she said, her heart still pounding in her chest. 

Which battle had that been, anyway? She had faced Weiss many times, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint which one it was…

“So, I heard you got into a little bit of a fight with your friends.” Qrow said conversationally, sitting down.

He patted the spot next to him, and she put away Crescent Rose and sat down with a sigh. It had been a very long time since her uncle had given her advice like this, and she might as well humor him.

“I don’t really blame them.” she said after a beat. “They have a lot to be upset about.” 

Qrow snorted. “That may be. But it seems to me that you’re a bit.. apathetic to their real concerns.”

Ruby’s anger blossomed in her chest. “They just don’t get it. I wanted to protect them, and I did. I’m sorry for all the things that I had to do, but I don’t regret it.” 

Qrow nodded. “That doesn’t change the fact that you should still try to make up with them.”

“They just don’t understand that I can’t regret it. If I did…” she didn’t finish the thought. She was barely functioning now. If she regretted that…

“I get it. But I think you’re underestimating that they might understand if you’d just tell them that.” Qrow pointed out.

“I don’t know. Even if that’s true, they probably want the Ruby that they remember and I’m not her anymore.” she said quietly.

“How do you know that? You haven’t given them a shot. ” Qrow pointed out. 

Ruby didn’t reply for a little bit, thinking over his words. Maybe he had a point about giving it a chance.

But.

Deep down she knew that she couldn’t let them get to attached to her. They wouldn’t be truly happy if she was there. 

She wasn’t a part of their fairytale ending. 

She had hurt them too much to deserve that.

“I’m going with them to Watts lab.” Ruby said, attempting to change the subject. 

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Qrow asked, leaning forward.

“Yes. I've been there before, and I’m familiar with the layout.” Ruby said firmly. 

She also needed to make sure that they stayed safe in a place like Watts lab, but that went without saying.

“That makes sense.” Qrow said thoughtfully. “Permission granted.”

Ruby nodded and stood, stretching her arms up. She turned to leave but was stopped by her uncle’s voice. 

“On one condition.” he said, a gleam in his eyes. “I want you to talk to them while you’re on the mission.”

“Uncle Qrow…” Ruby said sulkily, dropping her arms. 

“Stop punishing yourself and go talk to them.” Qrow said seriously. 

He clearly wasn’t going to let this go. 

“Fine.” she said, rolling her eyes. Then, before Qrow could tell her to go do some other impossible task, she left.

*****

Ruby was self-aware enough to know that she was being kinda creepy, but she couldn’t help it. 

Her friends were in the front room, making sure that they had everything they would need for the mission. Spare dust vials were being passed around, and they all looked more relaxed compared to lunch. 

She was on the top of the stairs, watching them. 

They were set to leave in the morning, but clearly her friends didn’t want to leave any of the preparation for then. They were a far cry from the teams that had almost been late on their first day of class. 

Ruby smiled at the memory of their mad dash across campus, then refocused on the scene bellow her. They were talking about the mission. 

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m kinda nervous about having Ruby with us.” Jaune said. 

Scratch that, they were talking about her. 

This was officially creepy on Ruby’s part. But she couldn’t reveal herself, that would just make it worse.

“I… agree. It’s going to be awkward.” Blake said. 

Oh great, now everyone was acknowledging it. 

“But it does make sense. She is the one with the information.” Ren was saying, pointing to Jaune with the dust vial he was holding

“Yeah, it does make sense.” Yang said. “It’s still going to be awkward though.”

Ouch.

“I don’t know if I can trust her in a battle.” Weiss said. “I know what she did she did for us, but I can’t help but think about what she did to us.

Really Ouch.

But it was good that they didn’t want to talk, right? 

Just being able to watch them was a gift, anyway. Seeing them only on the battlefield, always moments from dying had been… stressful. 

“I guess that we had to adjust to the idea of her being our enemy, and now we have to adjust to the idea that she was always our friend.”  said Jaune.

Yang sighed. “You’re right. And I do want to talk to her, I just…” she signed

A warm feeling arose in Ruby’s chest. She didn’t deserve Yang. 

The memory of her Scythe covered in blood and Yang’s red eyes rose unbidden.

She really didn’t deserve her.  

*****

Before Yang had started avoiding her, right before then, there had been one of those… events. 

When the world seemed to climax, like the Fall of Beacon, or Qrow fighting Tyrian. 

Everyone was there. 

Nora, Ren, and Jaune had been fighting Cinder. She had been seriously hoping that they would kill the hag, but she hadn’t had any time to devote to secretively helping them. 

Instead, she was dealing with her own problems, and those problems came in the form of Weiss, Blake, and Yang standing right in front of her

It had started with a classic standoff, her cloak flapping in the wind and everything. 

Blake was on her left, standing with her weapon out. The ribbon of Gambol Shroud was flapping in the wind along with Ruby’s cloak and her amber eyer were narrowed. She was as still as a statue, and was in a defensive stance close to the ground. 

Weiss was on her right. She had her rapier out and pointed directly at Ruby, the point glittering in the sun. She was in perfect battle position, ready to charge at a moments notice. She too was as stiff as a statue. 

And in the middle was her beloved older sister. Her gauntlets were locked and loaded. She stood in a boxers position, ready to attack and defend. 

Ruby had a feeling that she was more inclined to attack right now, considering the look in her eyes. 

They were smoldering, the flecks of red in her lavender eyes looking like sparks shooting up from a flame.

Ruby knew it was only a matter of time before they turned fully red.

No one spoke.

There was much that could be said, but too much of it had already been said. 

Ruby knew in her heart that they were tired more than anything else.

She knew because she was too.

The first to move was by Weiss, who charged at her in a lightning fast movement as Blake simultaneously swung her weapon, using it’s ribbon to give her extra length.

Ruby used her scythe to boost her jump, clearing both attacks, and slipping seamlessly into close quarters combat with Yang.

Weiss and Blake recovered a few blows in, and joined.

Blake, Weiss, and Yang fought, not necessarily using team attacks, but as one. 

Ruby kept herself limber, dodging around her teammates. 

She was kept on her toes, relying on her memories of their fighting styles to inform her movements. She slipped into the spaces left undefended, spaces that were open for someone else to attack in.

She just wanted to get out of the battle intact.

But as she dodged, she noticed her sister get more and more enraged. The red devoured her eyes in a flash, and she jumped forward, speaking for the first time in their encounter. 

“Just. Stay. Still!” she growled, punching more forcefully as the delicate dance that Ruby had woven between her former friends blades broke.

Ruby slashed blindly, tearing Yang’s coat slightly, and causing Blake to fall backwards sightly and Weiss to summon a glyph to catch her.

Yang’s next words caught her off guard more, though.

“Just.. stay!” Yang said it, an undertone of sadness making itself known through her fog of anger. 

“Yang…” Blake said comfortingly. She was on her feet in an instant, standing behind Yang in a comforting fashion.

Weiss jumped in front of Yang, startling Ruby out of her brief haze. She traded blows with her, almost desperately. 

From behind her, Ruby heard foot solders of the Four Kingdom’s army approach them. 

She jumped back from Weiss, and with a single move she took out the throats of the men approaching her.

She looked back at her team. Yang was the only one looking directly at her, and her eyes were red with a deep, deep hurt. 

Ruby almost faltered then. But, with a swing of her scythe, she ran away.

*****

Ruby silently got up from her position on top the stairs and went to go pack a bag of her own, alone.

Her resolve had to stay iron-hard.

*****

The next morning, the seven of them left the cabin. Qrow and Oscar wished them luck, and told them to stay in contact.

The walk through the forest was a sleepy quiet, it being far too early to sustain a conversation. Outside the forest, they boarded an airship. The pilot had already been briefed on the situations regarding the mission, but he still did a double take when he saw the team he was flying.

She didn’t blame him. Weiss would look twice too if she saw some of the best-known fighters in Remnant and The Reaper going on a mission together. 

But it was early, and she didn’t feel like explaining everything. That same sentiment was apparently shared by everyone else, as no one stepped forward to explain things.

They just packed inside and got ready for the flight, mostly ignoring the pilot except to murmur a greeting when they steeped on board. 

Weiss settled in near a window in the corner. As they took off, she could see the sun rising.  

Looking toward the front of the plane, she could see Ruby seated at another window, facing toward her. 

Ruby was staring out the window, almost dead to the world at such an early hour.

Sitting there with a pensive look on her face, the light catching her silver eyes, she looked like a fine painting. 

Weiss stared covertly, drinking in Ruby’s face. Seeing her peaceful, awake, alive like this…

It had been a long time. 

And the circumstances had been very, very different. 

*****

Weiss had been with Nora and Ren, a three-man mission infiltration mission. 

She didn’t have very much experience with infiltration, but they needed a Dust expert with them. And when it came to Dust, Weiss was the best of the best. 

The plan was to blow up a base in the Mountains near Mistral. The base was blocking any travel through the pass and it needed to go. 

They had expected the Nevermore's and guards.

What they hadn’t expected was the extra muscle at the base. 

The Reaper. 

Weiss almost had a heart attack when she had caught sight of her through the binoculars. 

She had frantically motioned to Nora and Ren, and when they looked through the binoculars their faces went as white as her hair. 

They had already been planning on casing the place for a couple of days, but now they had her to worry about to.

They had decided to continue the mission, but Weiss was in charge of watching The Reaper almost 24/7.

It was… nice to see her again and not have to fight her. But it was also hard to look at her cloaked figure and know that if Ruby knew that Weiss was there, she would attack her.

Focusing the binoculars at Ruby’s partially concealed face, Weiss tried to reconcile the emotionless look with the energetic girl that she once knew. 

What had caused her to switch personalities that dramatically? 

Weiss tried not to blame herself, but there was a little part of her that looked through those binoculars and saw someone that she had personally failed.

Weiss tried not to think about that, and focus on The Reaper. But it was hard. For one, The Reaper had a set schedule, and watching it got boring. For another, well…

Ruby trained. A lot. Whenever she wasn’t guarding the base, she was training. She hardly seemed to sleep. 

But that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was, when Ruby trained, she took off her cloak.

With her cloak off and her eyes focused on her scythe, she looked just like she had at Beacon. 

And that really opened up the door on Weiss's "Ruby" issues that she had been resolutely repressing.

She didn’t realize how much she had missed simply watching Ruby. Her expressions, her movements, her little quirks.

Watching her through the binoculars was a poor substitute for actual interaction, but it was something. 

And that was enough to make her remember how she had felt.

But she couldn’t be thinking about that.  

The entity of “Ruby” was already too complicated in her head

Ruby was her former friend. 

She had melted Weiss’s frozen heart, then had broken it. 

She had tried to kill Weiss multiple times.

She was one of the biggest threats to Remnant.

Weiss was planning on blowing up the building that she was currently in, for crying out loud!

But despite all that overwhelming information, one small fact seemed to invalidate all that. 

It was Ruby.

Weiss had to stay on mission and not allow herself to be distracted. 

And she had always prided herself on her professionalism. 

So she shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind and locked them up. 

In the end, The Reaper had left before they blew up the place up. 

Deep, deep down. Weiss was glad.

******

That had been quite the mission, something that had haunted her dreams- and nightmares- for months afterwords. 

Weiss had to refocus, though.

Not to admire her, or to wish for contact. 

Those thoughts were too naive. She hadn’t lived this long just to be taken down by some resurfacing childhood crush.

They had a ton of other stuff to be dealing with, including her own mysterious run in with some threat.

She had to watch her and keep her heart frozen so that Ruby wouldn’t be able to hurt her -or anyone close to her- any more.

But still, she snuck one last tiny peak at Ruby.

Chapter Text

They disembarked from the airship in the early afternoon. 

Stretching out her arms and squinting in the sunlight, Weiss was happy to be off the cramped ship and onto solid ground. 

Sure, they ran the risk of being attacked by Grimm, but at least there was room to breathe. 

They walked in a line. Yang was in front, Blake was behind her, Ren was behind her, Jaune was behind him, Nora was behind him, and Weiss was behind him, with Ruby bringing up the rear. 

Weiss wasn’t a huge fan of The Reaper walking behind her where she couldn’t see if the woman was going to snap and stab her or something, but she kept quiet. 

Despite that, as a whole the mood of the group seemed lighter then it had on the ship. Their tiredness had faded, and they were happy to be outdoors on a mission again.

Conversation flittered though the trees of the forest. Jaune was re-telling a story of a time when they were team JNYR traveling to Mistral, and they were all laughing as Yang objected to how the story was portraying her.  

It was almost like everything was back to normal- but the sound of footsteps behind her proved otherwise. 

Ruby was just kind of… there. She didn’t contribute to any of the conversations, and she didn’t laugh at any of the stories. But her ever-present silver eyes followed everyone’s movements. 

They ran into a few low-powered Grimm, but it wasn’t enough to break the mood of the group. 

It wasn’t until they stopped for the night to make camp that things quieted down. 

Yang lit the fire, and the six of them crowded around it. Ruby leaned against the tree across from Weiss and looked into the fire all evening. Weiss wondered what she was thinking about.

Past battles? Her regrets? 

Weiss wished she knew.

They worked out a watch schedule, and went to bed. 

That night, Weiss dreamt of her sister and cold days in the Schnee manor. She also dreamt that Ruby was with her in the manor. It was very, very strange.

In her dream, Ruby was with her as she walked through the halls of the manor.

Dream-Ruby was pointing and laughing at the ridiculously expensive house. “How can you even live here? It’s so big! How is this your home?”

Dream-Weiss told her “It’s definitely not my home.” 

The tone of the dream shifted, and Dream-Ruby looked sad. 

She hugged Weiss and said “It’s ok. We’ll find a home. Together.” 

Really weird.

*****

Blake’s watch was pretty uneventful for half an hour. She was almost dozing off when she she heard moaning from behind her. 

She turned around, ready to wake up whoever was having nightmares. 

Probably Yang, who often woke up next to her, damp with sweat, an old comrade’s name on her lips.

Yang, whose eyes had slowly turned more and more red every time she overused her semblance.

Blake loved Yang no matter what, but she feared for her girlfriends mental health the day that her eyes turned completely red.

But it wasn’t Yang. It was Ruby. 

The woman was rolling back and forth, moaning. Blake got up and went over to her, wondering what to do. Ruby clearly had issues with being woken up, and Blake didn’t want to get stabbed or something.

But as she got closer, she could hear what Ruby was moaning. “Pyrrah…. Penny… no…”

It was almost sad to see that the famed Reaper had some of the same dreams that Blake did. Dreams about the day that had taken so much from them. 

Adam’s crazed speech flittered through her mind, but she dispelled her thoughts. 

He wouldn’t hurt Yang again. She had made sure of that. 

In an act of sympathy, Blake reached out her hand to wake Ruby up.

She stopped inches from her prone form when she heard the other thing Ruby was saying. 

“Blake, I’m so sorry… Weiss, Yang, I didn’t want to…”

She was dreaming about them. That was… troubling. 

Blake wondered darkly which confrontation specifically Ruby was dreaming about. There were so many, many hurtful ones that were each worthy of nightmares. 

But still, Ruby didn’t deserve this. Blake reached over and tapped Ruby. 

******

Ruby dreamt about one of her fights with the New White Fang.

She was immensely proud at Blake for turning the group around. She’d always known that Blake was destined to become an incredible woman, but seeing it right before her eyes was amazing. 

It wasn’t so amazing when she had to fight her. 

Another thing causing her conflict was, that according to Salem’s informants, Yang and her had finally gotten together.

Blake would probably be her sister-in-law someday, she thought idly as she dodged a blow.

She was already family, but someday it would be legal on paper. That was a weird thought.

Ruby was very curious about how her and Yang had gotten together, but she couldn’t exactly ask. 

She also wanted to congratulate them, but that really wasn’t going to happen.

Blake was in great form that day. Sun and Ilia, her right-hands, were flanking her on either side, and the three of them were really giving Ruby a run for her money.

It was good that they could protect her. 

But Ruby was basically going all-out, which meant that she wasn’t paying as much attention as she should’ve been to not hurting them. 

She was also distracted with thoughts of family and happiness. 

It cut through her haze of thoughts when she slashed at Blake, and felt her aura shatter.

Then she felt her blade tear into flesh. 

A cry almost tore itself from Ruby’s lips, but she stopped herself. She jumped back instead, her mind whirling.

Blake was still standing, which was good. She was also bleeding, which was not good. 

“Ruby…” she was saying. 

Her mind went totally blank.

No matter how many times this happened, how many times she hurt her friends, she never got used to it.

At least the scythe hadn’t gone too deep. 

At least Blake was still alive. 

What if the scythe had gone deeper? It almost had, many times. 

It might, some day.

What if she killed Blake, her sister in all but name?

She would be every bit the monster they thought she was. 

She already was.

She let herself be distracted by Ilia as Sun helped Blake off the battlefield.

“How could you hurt her like that?” her opponent was saying. Ruby jumped, sensing that she was about to attack, but was too late. Ilia’s blade caught her in the thigh right as her dream dissolved.

*****

Ruby sprung up, awake. 

Blake moved away at the sudden movement, but the silver-eyed woman didn’t attack. 

Instead, Ruby looked down and rubbed her leg. “I deserved that.” she murmured.

“You were having nightmares.” Blake said quietly.

Ruby seemed to notice her for the first time. “Blake.” she said, looking up.

Then, she moved towards Blake.

She tensed up, but Ruby wasn't attacking. 

“I’m so sorry for hurting you in Menagerie!” she said.

“Oh.” Blake said, surprised. So that’s what Ruby had been dreaming about. 

“Yeah, that was really bad.” she said. “But… you were undercover.”

“I hurt you. I… I just…” Ruby trailed off, letting go of Blake's arm.

“We can’t change the past, we can only move forward. You’re back now, anyway.” Blake offered. 

“Yeah.” Ruby said, running her hand though her hair. 

“Go back to sleep. Your watch isn’t for a while.” Blake ordered. 

Then, she went back to her post. Blake didn’t look behind her, but she hoped that Ruby had gone back to sleep.

She doubted it, though.

*****

Weiss woke up the next morning feeling vaguely refreshed. She couldn’t remember the last time she had a dream that wasn’t a nightmare. 

The band started moving, more serious then they were the day before. They were getting deeper into enemy territory, and they would have to be more cautious. 

They had decided that it made more sense for Ruby to lead the group as she was familiar with the territory. She walked in front, with Yang and Blake behind her, Weiss behind them, Jaune behind her, and with Ren and Nora watching their backs.

Yang and Blake were engaged in a whispered conversation, and every once in a while they looked at Ruby. 

Weiss wished she knew what they were planning. Yang and Blake were both individually huge powerhouses, but combined they could be even more terrifying. Whatever they were planning, it couldn’t be good.

Breaking for lunch was a relatively calm affair. Ruby left to scout ahead, and came back without a fuss. 

“Anything interesting?” Asked Nora, practically vibrating with possibilities. 

Ruby seemed surprised to be addressed. “Just more forest.” She said.  “No hostiles.”

“You’d think that being so deep into Salem’s territory, things would be more… evil looking.” Weiss murmured. It was apparently too loud, because everyone else looked at her. 

Why did she have to talk? Her and her stupid mouth.

“Come on, I can’t be the only one thinking that! I thought there would be like… smoke everywhere or something.” she said, feeling her face growing hotter by the second.

No one said anything for a long moment, then Yang spoke up. “Me too. I was half expecting us to pass by a volcano lair or something.” 

“Around Salem’s lair, it looks really dramatic.” Ruby said casually.  

“Like…” ventured out Ren.

Weiss was torn. Part of her was super curious, and the other was internally screaming at Ren for bringing it up. 

“It’s all red and black everywhere, and there are these super creepy pools that Grimm come out of.” Ruby said, scrunching up her nose. “But it is weird that we aren’t running into anything big. the war must be winding down more then I thought.” 

Now that Ruby mentioned it, things had been slowing a little as of late. Within the last few months in particular they had many more victories, and their casualty count was lowering. 

“That must be why Watts has something brewing.” pointed out Blake. “They’re getting desperate.”

Ruby nodded. “If yo- I mean we can end it here, we can really help seal a victory.” 

“Great, the whole war also rides on this. Fun.” sighed Weiss. 

“Are we really ever running with different odds?” Yang pointed out with a toothy smile.

Ruby inclined her head, and that was the end of that. 

*****

That night, they camped out on a hill, overlooking the lab. They would attack tomorrow.

Looking at her friends faces, Weiss prayed that they would pull this off. 

If they couldn’t, no one else could. 

Looking over at Ruby, whose eyes were focused on the rest of the group, Weiss was sure she was having similar thoughts.

Chapter Text

Weiss wasn’t so sure about the plan. 

They were to go in, neutralize all enemy threats, rescue the prisoners, and make their escape.

It had looked good on paper. 

But in reality, the whole facility was outfitted with Grimm, researchers, and guards. 

Just looking at it from the outside made Weiss nervous about her seven-person squad.

Besides that, what would they find on the inside?

Watts was in there somewhere, and he was one of the members of Salem’s inner circle, which meant that he was probably very dangerous.

All in all, she wasn’t liking the odds.

Ruby was going to go straight in through the front gates, hopefully pulling the guards away from sides. Jaune, Ren, and Nora were then going to go through the right side and Weiss, Blake, and Yang were going through the left.

From their hiding place, Weiss could see the guards on the wall. They looked like statues, standing completely still with their spines ridged. Weiss wasn’t even sure if they were breathing.

Then several gunshots rang out, and suddenly the spell was broken. The guards ran to the front of the facility, their weapons out. 

The attack was on.

*****

Ruby was a straightforward person who had done one thing over the past few years.

Fight.

So, for her expert distraction, she opted for killing grunts, albeit very loudly.

Twenty guards had swarmed her in the relatively small space on the top of the wall. It looked like a scene of total chaos and terror, but she was The Reaper. 

This was where she thrived.

Ruby thought that the lab attack as a whole was going to be an interesting. For the first time in a long time, she was going to be able to go all-out without having to worry about hurting someone she cared about. 

But at the same time, the sound of Weiss’s glyphs activating and Nora’s war cries in the distance reminded her that her friends were also here fighting for their lives. 

And Ruby had to protect them. 

She attacked the remnants of the first twenty guards with renewed fury. 

Dimly over the haze of battle she could hear alarms going off and more yelling. 

Good.

*****

It was going ok, for what was basically a suicide mission. 

And then it really wasn’t.

*****

Team JNR was in charge of securing the prisoners, so they went straight for the holding areas. 

Jaune braced himself for the sights ahead, and readying his Semblance as he rounded the corner. 

Even so, he came to a screeching halt when he saw the cages.

They were empty. 

“Where are they?” asked Nora, looking around.

Just then, his comm cracked to life. 

“Do you have the prisoners secured?” asked Yang.

“No… they  aren’t here.” he answered carefully.

“What?” asked Blake over the comms.

“They definitely were here” he said, looking at the blood on the ground.

“The prisoners might be in Watts main lab.” Ruby’s voice sent a shiver down his spine, but he ignored it.

“Well, we’re almost done dispatching the garrison. How are you doing with the guards, Ruby?” Yang asked.

“Almost done here.” Ruby’s voice crackled.
“We’ll meet up at Watts lab then.” Yang said.  

“This whole this just screams of being a trap” Ren murmured as they made their way over to the main building.

******

Weiss didn’t like this at all.

The lab was super creepy. There were papers scattered throughout the halls, with blood and other mysterious liquids spilled on the walls and over some of the tables they passed. 

Even the unflappable Reaper looked nervous. She was leading, but she kept on checking behind her to make sure that everyone was still together. 

“I don’t like Watts. That man is a maniac.” she explained as they walked. “If he’s the mastermind behind this trap, I’m worried about what else he has in store for us.” 

Her descriptions, frankly, were not helping Weiss’s nerves.

Soon after entering the building, they came to a larger room with two sinister-looking tables and machinery littered around them. 

The whole place was in disarray, with papers flung on the floor.

“What exactly was happening in here?” Weiss wondered out loud, looking around. It was clearly where experiments were conducted, but beyond that she had no clue. 

“Fan out. Maybe we can find some answers.” commanded Yang.

Weiss moved towards the papers on the floors.

Picking them up, they were full of biological jargon, detailing some kind of experiment. 

“Jaune? Can you decipher these?” she asked across the room. “Dust is my specialty, this is more… yours.” 

He came over and plucked them out of her hands. After looking them over for a bit, brow furrowed, his eyes widened. 

“What does it say?” she asked.

“It talks about aura transfer.” Jaune said.

“Like the Fall Maiden?” she asked, feeling her heart pang. 

“Kinda. But they talk about transferring it without mentioning the other subject’s aura. Kinda like it doesn’t…” Jaune trailed off, looking horrified.

Weiss mentally tried to figure out what Jaune was thinking of. Something without an aura… Her blood ran cold. 

Ruby had mentioned that Watts was experimenting with Human-Grimm hybrids.

“Gods. Grimm with aura. Do you know if they succeeded?” she asked, her blood racing.

Jaune looked down at the paper and opened up his mouth, but was cut off. 

“Yeah! Yeah they did!” 

******

When Yang had told them to fan out, Nora and Ren had gone off through a massive door that opened up from the experiment room.

It led into a linoleum hallway, which they walked through to the end.

“We’re getting a little far from the others.” Ren said, voicing Nora’s own thoughts.

“Lets just look through this door then go back.” She agreed. 

The similarly massive door at the end of the hallway creaked as she pushed it. “Wonder why these doors are so…”

Through the doors, Creatures of Grimm sat in cages. 

“…Big.” Nora finished.

At Nora opening up the door, something had activated, opening up the cages with a buzz.

The creatures looked at the two hunters with too-intelligent eyes, as something flickered around it.

Nora immediately assessed that the space they were in was too small to deal with that number of Grimm.

“Run!” she yelped as she grabbed her partner and ran.

Going through the hallway and out through the door, she heard Weiss mention Grimm with Aura. 

Well, that explained the eyes.

“Yeah! Yeah they did!” Nora yelled. “Go outside now!” 

The party of seven sprinted out of the facility, Ruby leading the way. As soon as they exited, the creatures were upon them.

They figured out pretty quickly that the Aura surrounding the Grimm was almost… faulty. It flickered, catching some blows, yet others bypassing the aura entirely. 

As she fought a Beowolf, Nora could see the monster’s eyes alternate between the mindlessness of a normal Grimm and the uncanny intelligence she had seen as it’s Aura flashed. The humanlike eyes seemed to be pleading her for mercy.

She gave it to the creature, crushing its head with her hammer.

More poured out of the facility, and she oriented herself next to Ren and Jaune, with her other friends nearby.

Time to go to work.

******

Weiss was handling herself just fine. Sure, the Grimm were enhanced. And sure, they were greatly outnumbered. And sure, they were fighting for their lives. 

But she was Weiss Schnee.

She was fine. 

Her summons fought alongside her as she used her glyphs to boost her speed, piercing through the hides of Grimm right and left. 

Stabbing through the eye of a Beowolf, she struck a little too deep and Myrtenaster got stuck, slowing her down.

Ok, maybe she wasn't fine.

From the corner of her eye, she could see a monster slashing at her. There was no way Weiss could move fast enough to get her sword out of the Grimm and escape unscathed.

A rookie mistake. 

She would just have to hope her Aura could bear the brunt of the slash. 

Right before it connected with her side, a flash of red filled her vision.

Ruby.

She sliced off the monsters head, briefly becoming tangible. Then, she continued moving, slipping back into a cloud of petals.

For all of Weiss’s worrying about being able to trust her on the battlefield…

Ruby was a sight to behold.

Even though she had just almost died, and was currently in the middle of a massive fight, Weiss took a brief moment to observe as they fought together. 

Ruby must have been holding back before, because Weiss didn’t remember her fighting like that. Her unparalleled speed and grace was now even more unparalleled. It was almost like she was everywhere at once. 

If she had fought like that against Weiss, she would’ve been dead many time over again. 

But the more she watched, the the more Weiss noticed something weird. 

Ruby kept on… jumping in. It seemed like for every blow Weiss struck against an attacking Grimm, Ruby would strike one as well. It was almost like the first time they had fought together in the forest. 

Ruby wasn’t just watching her back, she was also watching her front and sides. 

And from Weiss’s place on the battlefield, she could see Ruby doing the same thing for everyone else. 

And since Weiss was feeling pretty winded fighting this many Grimm, Ruby must have been exhausted. 

But she kept on going.

And that worried Weiss.

Somewhere in the fight, she found herself next to Blake. 

“Checkmate?” Blake asked her with a grin.

Weiss nodded, a smile also on her face as they moved in sync, Blake attacking as Weiss acted as support with her glyphs. 

“Is it just me or is Ruby like, everywhere at once?” she asked Blake as they fought. 

She couldn’t see the her face, but Weiss could hear the frown in her voice. “Yeah, I was hoping I was imagining it.” 

The tide of battle caught up with Weiss, and suddenly she was next to Ren and Yang, who were doing their combo move, Sunflower. 

Then she could see Nora, then all seven of them were pushed together, boxed in by Grimm. 

“There’s just no end to these guys!” said Yang as she hit two Grimm into each other. 

Everyone was still standing, but they weren’t in great shape.

Out of the corner of her eye, Weiss could see that Ruby especially wasn’t looking very good.

Weiss came to a decision. 

“Jaune.” she said, running over to him, “Snow Angel!” 

“That’ll wipe you and me out!” he hissed, his sword up, fending off blows from a particularly strong Grimm. 

“If we don’t try it, we might all be wiped out!” she argued as she stabbed the Grimm he was fighting.

“Snow Angel? You don’t mean…” Yang said nervously as she shot at the attacking crowd of monsters. 

“What’s that?” asked Ruby as she landed, materializing out of petals. 

“Jaune.” Weiss said, ignoring Ruby’s question. “We have no other choice.”

“Fine!” he said, jumping behind Ren and Nora. Blake and Yang moved in front of Weiss, with Ruby following suit, creating a five-man circle around them. 

They faced each other.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked her, looking into her eyes. 

“Yes.” she said, pushing down the nervousness in her stomach. “Let's do this.”

Jaune nodded, then put his hands together. With a deep breath he started murmuring, “For it is only in passing that we achieve immortally…”

As he spoke, his aura reached out and surrounded her.

She could feel her aura recharging, and the energy crackling around her. 

White light flowing around her, Jaune’s chanting, and the sounds of her friends fighting surrounded her. Her Aura filled more and more, until she could feel the power in her veins.

She lifted her sword up, and held it close to her chest. 

Then, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and with every last drop of her power, and with every last drop of Jaune’s, she summoned.

The circle sprung to life in the air above them. It was massive, much bigger than anything else she had ever done. The ground rumbled, and a chilly breeze whipped around her. 

The summon dug into her, depleting everything within her and Jaune, then demanding more and more power. 

She had to do this.

She had to do this.

*****

Ruby looked at her partner in amazement. 

Ruby herself was covered in blood and grime from the guards, and probably looked like the specter of death.

 Conversely, Weiss looked like a goddess in the tales of old. The power swirled around her in ever-changing white and blue as the infinitely detailed giant summoning circle spiraling to life above her, as her hair whipped in the wind.

It was... incredible.

Then, with a flash of white light and a loud boom, a horde of Grimm manifested from the circle. 

Ruby looked at the creatures with amazement. There were so many, probably as many as the the Grimm they had defeated that day. 

A whole army from a single person. 

As she wondered about what that would mean for the rest of the war, the white and blue summoned Grimm attacked the black and red Grimm. 

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Weiss fall. 

And as she turned towards Weiss, to see if she was ok, she remembered exactly how Weiss had gotten hurt.

She remembered exactly why she had to break cover and rescue her.

She remembered because it had been her.

She was the one who had almost killed Weiss.

“I’m fine.” The white-haired girl said grumpily, batting away Yang’s questioning hand, unaware of Ruby’s revelation.

Though she said that, Ruby noticed that she was shaking, and looked even more pale than usual. 

Ruby’m mind was racing. She had to tell her, but not now.

“I’m not going to be healing anyone any time soon, so none of you get stabbed.” Jaune said with a small laugh, still on the ground.

The seven of them sat, with Ruby a little bit away from the rest of the group, all in awe of the battle in front of them. 

“That's amazing.” she said, not even realizing she had spoken until she noticed everyone looked over at her. So much for keeping a low profile while she sorted out what was going on in her head.

“Why don’t you use that all the time?” she asked, deciding to go straight for it.

“Well, Jaune is normally at the hospital, and we don’t typically face this many Grimm at the same time.” Weiss said, not really looking at her. “And the most I can go on my own is a couple of low-level Grimm, so it really wouldn’t help much against the big ones.”

Jaune cleared his throat a bit, looking at her with an eyebrow up. 

Weiss sighed and added, “Also, we didn’t come up with this until a little while ago. I’m essentially using Jaune’s aura as an extension of my own instead of him giving me some to use. I was a little bit convinced that it might kill us to try it, and I was never really this desperate.” 

“You could have died?” said Blake incredulously as she lightly hit Weiss’s head. “Don’t do that!” 

Ruby was very much in agreement, but they had more pressing concerns. 

“Did anyone see any people aside from the guards?” she asked the group, assessing her priorities.

“No, just the Grimm.” said Nora.

“Damn. A trap.” she said, gritting her teeth. Of course they knew she was coming.

“Yeah, the cages were rigged to open when we went through the door.” said Nora. 

“Where did the researchers go, though? It looked like they had left in a hurry.” said Yang.

“We might find answers if we go back inside the lab.” Ruby said, looking directly at her sister. 

Yang answered her question. “Ok, we’ll go back in. We need to know what happened here. We can just leave your summons here, right?” she asked Weiss, who had stopped shaking but still looked pale. 

“Yeah, they’ll dissipate after I stop needing them.” Weiss said, getting up with Blake’s help as everyone else stood. 

With one last look back, the group descended, once more, into the lab.

*****

As they walked through the experiment room, Yang spoke again. “Now that we know that this is a trap, be extra careful.”

Weiss had been planning on it.

She wasn’t sure how much good that would do her, though. Her Aura was basically gone, and she’d be borderline useless in a fight.

The walls were white, and desks and broken microscopes littered the room 

“This must be where they did more fine research.” Weiss said. She could remember similar-looking labs where dust experiments were conducted at her father’s company. 

She walked over to a desk and picked up a piece of paper, figuring that it had at least somewhat worked out for her last time. 

She made out the words “Subject 408D responds to the same stimuli…” when suddenly the paper was torn out of her hand.

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you to keep out of other people’s business?” she heard an arrogant voice say. 

Then, she was swept back by a burst of rose petals as Ruby grabbed onto her and dragged her back, putting herself between Weiss and the man that could only be Watts. 

“You!” Ruby growled, the silver-eyed woman's arm tightly looped around her waist in a way that made Weiss blush despite herself.

“Ms. Rose.” the man said disdainfully. “I always knew you weren’t truly loyal to Her Grace.” 

“What gave me away, the fact that I still have a heart?” she shot back, watching his every move. 

“Hm. I don’t know, do you still have a heart?” He said disdainfully. 

Ruby flinched a little bit at that. Her eyes narrowing, she asked “Were those Grimm the prisoners?”

“After word of your defection got out, we had to do something with them.” Watt said gesturing lazily.

“We were rushed, so they remained imperfect. But no matter. After I kill all of you here, I can continue my work somewhere else.” he said, a predatory glint appearing in his eyes. 

“I won’t let you.” Ruby said, and her grip on Weiss tightened. 

Weiss realized that she was in the middle of a very tense confrontation, but the fact that Ruby was still so close to her was making her face kind of hot. 

Watts stripped off his gloves, and took off his jacket. 

“Be honored. I hardly ever use this form.” he said with a sneer. 

Then, he started to… change. 

It seemed like another body was bursting out of his. His skin ripped away to reveal black underneath, the midnight-black of a Grimm. He continued to grow and expand, multiple arms coming out of his body as black liquid oozed everywhere. Only his face remained the same, a human face on a monster’s body. 

He had six arms, all of them long and spindly, with an elongated neck. His torso was still vaguely human, and his legs were short, almost deformed. 

His arms still had human hands on them, albeit with long claws. 

He stood up on his back arms, lifting his stumpy legs off the floor. 

“I was the first human I ever experimented on. The others called me a monster, but it was just because I was so much stronger then them. So much more perfect. Now come at me!” he said, his polished voice disappearing beneath a roar. 

From next to Ruby, Weiss immediately regretted using up all of her Aura.

Chapter Text

Facing down Watts, two thoughts were at the forefront of Ruby’s mind.

First, what in Remnant would possess him to experiment on himself first, before he perfected whatever horrifying technique he used to to graft Grimm parts onto a human body?

Her second thought concerned her friends, mostly the fact that she didn’t want them anywhere near him.

Unfortunately, they were all currently standing a few feet behind her. 

Adding to the “bad” factor of the situation was the fact that they weren’t in great shape from facing like a hundred Grimm.

Weiss and Jaune were practically Aura-less, for Remnants sake!

(She wasn’t doing too great either from the previously mentioned face down with an army of Grimm.)

Ruby figured that there was no good situation to be facing a six-armed former coworker, but as far as those situations went this was less than ideal.

So, all in all, she was, without a doubt, fucked.

This was the kind of situation that would require some sort of elaborate master plan to get out of.

Unfortunately, the best she could come up with on the spot was… imaginary drumroll… killing Watts.

That was all.

And before she could even do that, she had to deal with Weiss, who was currently way too close to Watts for comfort.

Yeah, she should take care of that first.

Ruby picked up Weiss, eliciting a squawk from her, and sped behind her friends, placing Weiss there. 

If they survived, she would apologize for manhandling her so much.

And for almost killing her.

Weiss definitely deserved better than this.

“Protect her and Jaune, and don’t interfere!” she said briskly to her other friends, ignoring Yang’s questioning “Ruby?” before speeding right up to Watts, swinging at him head on. After all, the best defense was a good offense, right? And she had a lot to defend.

Watts caught her first blow with two of his appendages, and all Ruby could think was “Not good.”

“Such a bold attack, Ms Rose!” he said, his eyes glimmering. “To come at me straight on, even in this form. I suppose it speaks to your forward and honest nature.” 

Watts moved at her with two of his other limbs, attacking with ferocity. Ruby disengaged her scythe and wove around his legs, dodging his attacks. He was fast, and that was coming from her. 

Running in a circle, shooting at him, she brainstormed how to get past his defense. 

Maybe she could overwhelm him somehow? Or confuse him and make him tangle up his arms somehow? Or maybe pin them down with her scythe?

Or maybe-

An arm flew past her head, and she channeled her speed, changing directions.

Shit, those arms were fast.

The sheer number of them coupled with his reflexes meant that any attack she tried was blocked, and when it was blocked she was also attacked at the same time with his other arms.

If there was a way to get past them, she would have no problem….

Ruby was so focused on the strategy of the fight that she almost missed Watts next words.

“But, I suppose your nature isn't all that honest, is it.” Watts was saying. His gaze flickered over to her friends, and he said to them,“You all can attest for that.” 

Ruby felt her chest pang, but didn’t dignify it with a response, instead gritting her teeth and attacking from multiple angles with the use of her Semblance, trying to feel out exactly how fast his reaction times were from various angles. 

From behind her, she could hear Yang arguing with Ren about jumping into the fight. Ren was talking to her about protecting Jaune and Weiss, though he sounded like he wanted a piece of Watts too. 

“I mean, you may have been a spy, but you still betrayed them.” Watts was talking again, and this time his words felt like knives on her skin. 

He wasn’t wrong about her lack of honesty, anyway.

She resumed her head-on assault, trying to shut him up.

“You still hurt them.” he said, and that caught her attention. 

Her mental analysis of Watts completely ground to a halt. 

That, she had.

Ruby saw stars as she was hit her into a wall by one of Watt’s arms. 

That’s what she got for being distracted.

“Ah ha! So you do feel guilty about that!” he said as she pulled herself up, assessing the damage to her Aura. 

He had no idea just how guilty she felt, but she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.

Ruby looked up after her brief assessment, and realized with a crashing finality that Watts now had a clear path to her friends. 

“I wonder how guilty you’ll feel when they die under your watch!” he said, scuttling towards her friends. 

As Watts ran he raised four of his arms, then brought them down upon the group right as Yang and Nora brought their weapons up. 

They were too slow, they would die right in front of her again-

Moving faster than she thought herself capable, Ruby caught his blow. 

“I almost shot you!” she heard Nora say from behind her. 

“Don’t interfere!” Ruby said again. 

Shaking with the effort, she pushed back on Watts, her strength fueled by her fear of losing her friends. 

“Does saving them make you feel better?” Watts hissed, his monstrous body rippling. 

She pushed him back, trying very hard to not think about it.

She would break down if she did, and that couldn’t happen.

Not right now.

“Hit a nerve there, did I?” he said with a chuckle, pulling himself up as his stumpy legs wobbled in the air. 

Ruby attacked, shooting him as she ran in closer. He had to have a weak point, or a blind spot somewhere!

He moved, slashing her once, twice, three times as she felt her Aura flicker and break. 

She coughed, trying to regain some of the air that he had batted out of her lungs. For the second time in so many days, she was bleeding from her side.

Great.

But, she really didn’t have any time to deal with it.

She had to get up and protect them.

As she struggled to stand, she could hear Watts talking mockingly. 

“Yes, you do have an awful lot of blood on your hands. Were you trying to make up for it, perhaps? You can’t.” he said, dragging his claws across the floor. 

He picked her up by her hood, and she struggled. Watts continued talking.

“Did you really think that you could? That you could do a little bit of spying, and then you could just… go home? Back to them, back to the fairy tale?” he said mockingly.

 His face was close to hers, and she could smell his putrid breath. 

He spoke in a low tone, but it was still loud enough that his voice echoed throughout the room.

“Did you really think that after everything you’ve done, they’d accept you back? After everything that’s been revealed, they don’t trust you, and they certainly don’t care about you.” 

He looked down at her cruelly, a wicked light in his eyes. “They. Will. Never. Love. You.” 

The room was so quiet, Ruby could hear a pin drop. 

She took a deep breath, and started chuckling bitterly. Little drops of blood dripped out of her mouth as she did so.

Watts looked at her, confused. Clearly, this wasn’t the reaction he was hoping for.

“That’s your big finale?” Ruby said incredulously.

“I have news for you.” she said, leaning in closer to him. 

“You are full of shit, and I already knew all of that!” with that declaration, she head butted him, causing him to drop her. 

Ruby landed on her feet, and started attacking. 

“You really think that over the past five years, I haven't realized that?” she said, her voice bitter but strong. 

“I KNOW that I’ll be hated by the people that I love. But you know what?” 

She punctuated her words by her movements, slashing at him viciously. 

“It doesn’t matter. Not as long as they’re safe!” and with that, she slashed one of Watts's arms off. 

He cried out in pain, and she felt a dull touch of victory.

Huh, she didn’t realize that cutting them off was an option.

“Your mere presence is hurting them! Even after this whole war is over…” Watts was gasping as he tried to keep up with her.

But Ruby was on a roll. “After this whole war is over, I’m going to make sure that I never hurt them again!” she broke through his defense, kicking him down to the ground, his five remaining arms curling. 

“Don’t you see? I don’t care if you kill me! If you don’t send me to hell, I’m going there myself!” she said, emotion dripping from her voice, raising her scythe for one final blow.

“Fine.” Watts said, his eyes narrowing as he panted. “You do’t care if you die. But you’ll certainly care if I kill them!” he said, jumping up, clear over her head, and aiming one of his arms right at his target.

Weiss, who had somehow made her way to the front of her friends.

The world was felt like it was moving in slow motion, and Ruby knew what she had to do. She wouldn’t let anyone else die before her eyes. 

Not like Pyrrah had.

Not like Penny had. 

It would never happen again.

So, Ruby did the only thing she could do, and leapt in front of Weiss, Crescent Rose’s blade pointing at Watts.

*****

Weiss was angry.

She didn’t know what the hell Ruby thought she was doing.

Sure, it was nice to know that she cared. But, Nora and Ren could have stayed back, and Yang and Blake could have gone and helped Ruby.

But nooooooo, Ruby didn’t want any of their help. 

And not only that, but while Ruby was doing her one man stand thing, she started to spew some bullshit.

Weiss had been content with watching that maybe hashing it out later, but then Watts had come straight for her.

And as Ruby ran in front of her to take the blow, Weiss didn’t feel awed. She didn’t feel thankful.

Instead, she felt white-hot anger bubble up inside of her.

How dare this happen to her. How dare Ruby reduce her to nothing but a damsel in distress. 

She was Weiss goddamn Schnee, for crying out loud.

She was a huntress, not some pet that could be thrown around and fussed over.

From the depths of her dust pouch, she pulled out her last resort. 

She had wanted something to use in case of an emergency, to make sure that nothing like whatever had lead to her capture could happen again. 

So as soon as Ruby stepped in front of her, Weiss moved. 

She refused to be helpless.

She was already low on the ground, so she jumped up, and using her momentum she flipped over Ruby, and with all her might, threw.

Take that Dad.

******

Ruby hadn’t realized that she had closed her eyes in preparation for the blow until it didn’t come.

She cracked open her eyes, and was greeted with the sight of Weiss standing in front of her. 

In front of her was Watts, completely crystalized in ice. 

Weiss turned around to face her. Her blue eyes were furious. 

“You aren’t allowed to do that.” she said.

“But I…” Ruby tried to argue. 

“You don’t get to get off that easy. You think you don’t deserve to live? I don’t think you have the right to pull some bullshit sacrifice on us.” Weiss’s words became faster as she talked, her anger leaking more and more into her voice.

“We deserve better than that!” she continued.

Ruby looked away, unable to look at her friends faces, scared about what she would see.

Their faces full of anger, like it had been in battle? Ready to rip her apart, and her knowing that she would have to do the same.

“Yeah, you can’t just come back then leave all over again!” said Yang, breaking her out of her memories.

“You’re just doing what’s convenient for you!” Weiss continue. “Its so awfully convenient of you to die. Oh so convenient! You won’t have to deal with us and our pesky emotions, or our problems!” she was shouting, now.

Ruby knew. It was terribly, undeniably….

“It’s selfish.” said Blake, voicing her thoughts.

Ruby forced herself to look back at them, and see the anger that she had sowed. She deserved it, after all.

Instead, she was greeted with their eyes, shiny with unshed tears.

Yang’s hand was outstretched to her, just like it had been on their first confrontation as enemies. Ruby felt almost delirious, like she was going to float away. It was all to real, all too much like last time.

She felt like running like she had on that day, run like she always had. Pushing them away.

“I was the one that did it.” she said, the words slipping out of her mouth.

“Did what?” Weiss asked, breathlessly. “What more could you have possibly-”

“I was the one that hurt you. I was the one that caused that stab wound in your arm.”

She looked right at Weiss, her mouth overwhelmingly bitter. “I was the one that almost got you killed.”

And just like that, she pushed the hand away once more.

Chapter Text

“Huh.” Weiss said. A flash of anger filled her vision, but it quickly faded to a more, “No, duh.” feeling.

“Of course it was you. You’re the only one… skilled enough to pull that off.” The bitterness filled her, starting in her chest and leaking into her voice. 

“Weiss…” Yang started, but she cut her off.

“No. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. How long since you figured it out?” Weiss said.

“When we were fighting the Grimm.” Ruby said, her eyes dull.

“Of course it was you. It’s always you.” she said. “It’s always….” And just like that Weiss was swept up by her memories.

******

Weiss had been on a routine mission, scouting and tracking out troop movements. To be honest, they didn’t really need Weiss Schnee, Dust mage extraordinaire, but she enjoyed the work. It was a nice break between missions while still being useful.

And this particular squad was going pretty deep into enemy territory, so some extra muscle just in case wasn’t a bad idea.

The squad contained two women from Vacuo, a man and woman from Vale, and a man from Menagerie.

“It’s not technically one of the Four Kingdoms, but my brother is with the New White Fang and I figured I’d lend a hand over here instead.” The man, whose name was Hex, joked. He was a lizard faunus, with scales around his wrists and slightly clawed fingers. 

The woman from Vale, Cherry, shoved him slightly. “More like they kicked you out and you had to come here.” she teased him lightly.

The five of them were clearly a little bit intimidated by Weiss, but they welcomed the extra protection.

As they got deeper into enemy territory, their joking ceased, and they got more serious and alert.

They reached the site that Command had approximated the new camp would be around. From there, they spread out in an effort to gain a greater understanding of the terrain. 

After walking through the leaves silently, Weiss got a glimpse of something through the trees. It looked like the camp that they had been searching for.

She gave the hand signal for all of her men to converge on her.

As they silently moved towards her, a sound rang out through the forest.

Crunch.

She motioned for them to stop, and looked around. It sounded like something had fallen into the leaves.

Crunch. Crunch.

Two more times…. 

Oh shit, that wasn’t something falling. 

It was… footsteps.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

The person was coming faster, now. Weiss felt her heartbeat quicken. Clearly, they had been spotted.

Crunch Crunch Cunch CRUNCHCRUNCHCRUNCHCRUNCH

That was… too fast. Too loud. The only person that fast on the opposing army…

Weiss’s heart dropped to her stomach.

“Everyone to me!” she whisper-yelled, forsaking hand signals for speed.

But it was’t enough.

And before the woman from Vale could defend herself, she was on the ground.

The two women from Vaccuo went to each other in an attempt to defend from both sides, but in a flash both their heads were gone.

The man from Vale turned twords Weiss, mouth open and eyes wide in terror. “Schn-“ he was gone too.

Weiss looked at Hex, and they made eye contact, the last two standing. She saw his eyes widen in acceptance as he fell, the scythe in his back visible from the ground.

His killer stood behind him.

The Reaper, Ruby Rose.

For a moment, they looked at each other.

The Reaper’s surprise wasn’t evident on her face, but nonetheless Weiss could feel it. 

“Weiss… Schnee” she said. 

The way she said her name grated on Weiss’s nerves. Her last name sounded tacked on, like an afterthought.

“Ru-Reaper.” she said, catching herself. Mentally, she cursed. The Reaper had just killed people in front of Weiss’s eyes, for crying out loud.

Foregoing any further conversation, she launched herself at the other woman, blade forward. 

The Reaper intercepted the blow, and attacked in kind. 

The two of them traded lightning fast blows back and forth for a few seconds before The Reaper jumped back and shot twice at Weiss, which she deflected, then hooked around a tree and into Weiss with a kick that knocked her back but not off her feet. Weiss ran forward, summoning four Glyphs around her to shoot at her opponent as she ran in.

Of the four, one hit home, but besides that The Reaper dodged to the right, sidestepping Weiss so closely that Weiss swore that she felt the other woman breathe on her.

Weiss whirled around and intercepted a blow above her head, pushing it off with a twirl of her sword and darted forward, attacked, and darted back.

They continued their forward-back for a bit, only to be interrupted by The Reaper gaining more ground on her. Weiss tried to push back briefly, but gave up and instead turned to run alongside The Reaper as they traded blows. 

As they did, Weiss activated the fire dust on her blade, and at the right moment used it to push her opponent back.

Even though they had been fighting for only a minute top, Weiss was already breathing hard.  

She circled The Reaper, and the other woman responded in kind, looking at her warily.

“What’s a lone Dust Specialist doing so far from home?” The Reaper’s words cut through the silence.

“I wasn’t alone.” Weiss said, her voice low.  

“Really? Because they sure felt like nothing under my blade. ” The Reaper’s reply was fast, with a touch of dark humor.

Weiss felt the anger in her chest build. “They were people with hopes and dreams and lives. They had families!” she shouted, her voice growing louder. 

The Reaper’s face remained unchanged.

 “Just like… you had a family.” the words fell from her mouth.

At that, The Reaper’s face changed.

“Get off your high horse, Ice Queen. You’ve killed too.” she said, accusatory. 

Weiss felt a pang in her chest, but buried it. “In defense of my family. You know, the one that you broke. But it wasn’t enough for you was it? Just to hurt and break us. You had to break these peoples families too!”

With a cry, The Reaper hurdled forward.

Weiss met her scythe head on, parrying, then turning in for an attack on the Reaper’s right side.

Her initial blows were blocked, but she drove forward, putting The Reaper continually on the defense. 

The Reaper used her gun to fire back, forcing Weiss to stop the barrage.

She then ran forward and summoned her glyphs into existence, jumping back and forth to batter the Reaper with a flurry of attacks, some of which Weiss thought hit aura and tasted victory in her mouth. 

Just then, she was kicked out from her path to the next Glyph, and she lost all her momentum hitting the ground. 

She rolled over just in time to intercept a blow, shit that almost took my head off, and pushed it off, getting up and attacking in the same motion.

She was met with a similarly hard block, and as the two of them tested each other’s defenses, Weiss looked at her former partner right in the eyes, and for a second, a part of her… stopped fighting.

She was knocked back, in a hit that definitely struck aura, but moved into a flip and landed on her feet.

“I can’t believe… that it’s still you.” she found herself saying, her mind feeling miles away from her body.

She could feel The Reaper’s confusion, and kept talking.

“You’re the one that haunts my nightmares. You’re the one killing my teams.” she struck, and her blow was met in kind, but she didn’t care.

“It’s always you!” Her eyes were starting to blur, and a small part of her pointed out that it was a hazard for fighting, but it was buried beneath a tidal wave of emotion.

“Weiss…” it might have been her imagination, but she could have sworn she heard her former friend say her name.

“You made me hope, then you took it away from me.” she said, feeling more exposed than anyone should in a fight to the death.

“And now… you’ve become just as much of a monster as Cinder.”

As she said it, she looked directly into her former teammates eyes, so that she knew that her words came from her heart.

For a second, everything was still. 

The Reaper’s face was contorted in an expression of agony, but in her eyes there was a sense of acceptance.

Weiss broke the stillness, not wanting to look at he other women anymore, and ran forward, activating her lightning dust. 

It hit a tree instead of her target, but still she stabbed forward furiously, trying to hit the woman who just wouldn’t stay.

In her peripheral vision, she noticed a small fire growing. What was it with them and fire?

The Reaper dodged back, and occasionally went in for a blow, but Weiss’s furry was unmatched.

Weiss briefly began to tire, and at that moment The Reaper struck, knocking her blade out of her hands. Weiss flipped back, snatching it out of the air, then was bombarded by a flurry of fire-dust rounds, most of which she deflected, but some of which hit her aura. 

With a scream of pure frustration, Weiss ran forward, faked out a stab and went straight in for a kick to the face.

It hit home, But The Reaper didn’t fall, instead rolling with the hit. Weiss ended up on the ground, but she got up again.

The fire encircled them, cutting off any other option than the fight right in front of her.

She ran at the Reaper again, but this time their blades locked in a battle of strength.

“If you kill me, what’ll happen? Will I just become another one of your summons? Who will you be?” The Reaper yelled.

“If you kill me, what’ll happen? Will you be fulfilled knowing that you’ve finally destroyed your partner? Will you be satisfied that no one will ever bother you with stupid memories of the past?” Weiss replied in kind. 

Then, she pushed further.

 “Will killing me make you happy?” she almost spat it out.  “Because I swear that as long as I’m alive you will never be free from your past!” 

The Reaper’s eyes widened, taken off guard. 

“I…” she said, relaxing slightly. At that, Weiss pushed off of her, back, then up and off of a tree and back into attack mode. Her tears were flowing now, freely. She couldn’t really tell, but she thought that The Reaper was similarly crying.

The flames were very close now, almost eating them up. 

“Ruby…” she whispered brokenly.

“I…” The Reaper said again.

Then, crunching noises. Weiss saw out of the corner of her eye members of Salem’s army coming for them. 

Weiss was exhausted, but she pulled up her blade. She would have to fight her way out, past the flames.

She was busy thinking about her exit strategy when she felt something come towards her. 

It was The Reaper.

Weiss saw it. She saw it coming, and saw how to dodge it. 

But. She. Didn’t.

And as she failed to, she saw Ruby’s eyes on The Reaper’s face widen right as the scythe broke through her aura, digging deep into her arm. 

Too deep.

“At least now you’ll find out if this is what’ll make you happy.” she whispered as she fell.

As soon as she hit the ground, she was out.

******

Weiss was whisked back to the present, and opened up her eyes, looking directly at Ruby.

“Clearly, it didn’t make you happy.” Weiss said humorlessly.

Ruby mutely shook her head, and around her Weiss could see her friends confused faces.

Weiss took a deep breath. “But you know what? This just proves my point.” 

As she said it, she could see Ruby’s eyes widen in shock.

“Guys, can you take five? I need to talk with her alone.” Weiss said.

“Are you sure?” said Nora. 

“Very.” Weiss said, hoping that her determination showed on her face.

They fled out, Yang clapping Weiss on the shoulder. 

As soon as they were gone, Weiss started talking.

“We’re back, in the same place that we’ve been in for the past five years. Same as it’s always been.” she said, gesturing around her. “We offer a hand of peace, you slap it away.”

“And I’m tired of being stuck here. I’m tired of salvaging the pieces of our friendship, just hoping that you’ll realize how wrong you are. I’m tired of waiting for you to come home.” she said. 

“We’re tired.” she added, thinking about Yang.

Ruby nodded in acknowledgment, looking down.

“But I get it now.” she continued. “You think coming home would be too good for you.”

“Yes, I-” Ruby said, but Weiss interrupted her.

“I don’t agree. I don’t think that any of us agree.” she said.

“But with what I’ve done….” said Ruby, but Weiss interrupted again.

“That’s not what this is about. This isn’t about you, this is about us. You owe us. You owe Yang.”

You owe me she wanted to say

Weiss saw the guilt flash across Ruby’s face.

“Think of it as a punishment if that’s what’ll get you to stay. Any way you roll the dice, you need to make up for what you’ve done.”

“I… do.” Ruby said slowly.

“You can only do that by staying.” said Weiss. “So get your shit together so that we can all move on.”

Chapter Text

It’s been a long day.

The phrase in of itself was an understatement of catastrophic proportions.

Ruby fought an army, had a shattering revelation, fought her former coworker, almost died multiple times, and on top of that she’s been completely called out by Weiss. 

Twice.

And the aforementioned revelation had completely and utterly backfired on her, but not in the way that she was hoping it would backfire. 

She wanted to let them all know that she was so utterly broken that none of them should waste their efforts on fixing her. 

She wanted the hand to be pulled away forever.

Instead Weiss had dismissed everyone from the room in a move that had Ruby sweating a little bit, then had torn her a new one.

Asking her to stay, not out of any misguided beliefs of her deserving it, but to pay off the debt to her friends- to her family- that she had accumulated over the years.

And now Weiss was looking at her expectantly.

What was she supposed to say? Weiss had told her to get her shit together, but Ruby didn’t even know where her shit was in the first place.

But at the end of the day, there was only one answer. 

Watt’s frozen form still loomed behind Weiss, as if to emphasize just how trapped Ruby was.

“You dug this hole yourself.” it seemed to say.

“Ok.” Ruby said, looking down. She couldn’t look Weiss in the eyes right now, even though she knew that Weiss wanted to hear more from her.

But she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what Weiss wanted to hear.

Just thinking about the possibility of even making an attempt at… reconciling…. with her friends was painful.

She didn’t even know where to begin beginning.

Trying would be a good place to start.

 A helpful voice in her head piped up. 

A voice that sounded kind of like her Uncle Qrow.

And barring that, you could always fake it.

Ok, that definitely sounded like her Uncle. Great, next it was going to tell her to pick up day drinking.

She should probably be more worried about a voice in her head, but all things considered she was pretty sure she could file this one under “Not-necessarily-bad-coping-mechanisms”

Her mind made up, she strode away from Watts’s frozen form and into the hallway where her friends were waiting.

Six pairs of expectant eyes looked up at her the second that she exited the room.

She swallowed thickly. “I’m… sorry I took on Watts myself. I won’t do that again.”

Great. If saying that was like pulling teeth, this whole endeavor was probably doomed.

But in a second, everyone in the room was on their feet. 

“Good.” said Jaune, sharing a meaningful look with Blake. 

After a beat of silence, Nora cleared her throat. “Nice heart-to-heart, but we super need to leave.”

“Yeah, I’m not a fan of sticking around.” Weiss said, appearing from behind Ruby. 

Ruby inclined with her head, and together the seven of them jogged out of the lab.

Once they were outside, Ruby skid to a stop, an idea forming in her mind.

“Anyone got any fire dust?”

*****

As Ruby shot the fire dust into the building with precision, Weiss wondered what she was planning. 

She had seemed to acquiesce to Weiss’s demands easily. Yet if Weiss knew anything about her, she knew that Ruby had never been one to let things go very easily. 

As she puzzled over the future, the building in front of them caught fire. As it went up in flames, she turned to look at the girl next to her, and saw a hint of a smile on her face.

Man, they really did have a thing with fire.

*****

Standing outside the door, Blake wondered what her teammates were talking about inside.

“That was a total power move.” said Yang, looking at the door with admiration. 

“Dismissing us all like that? Yeah that was pretty great.” said Jaune.

Blake shook out her legs and took a seat. There was no telling how long they were going to be in there. Plus, she was really, really tired. The others followed suit, and they sat silently.

Blake looked over at her girlfriend. 

Yang appeared to be lost in thought. Her eyes were clouded and her mouth was in a small frown. 

Blake almost reached over, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nora and Ren silently communicating. They seemed to come to an agreement, and Ren cleared his throat.

“So…” he said, leveling a look at Yang. “That was a lot to take in. Are you ok?”

Yang looked up, and the frown on her face was replaced with a neutral, if a bit guarded, look.

“I’m… fine. I knew that she had a bit of a suicidal streak.” she said tensely.

Clearly, she wasn’t doing so good. Blake didn’t blame her. See’s Ruby’s “suicidal streak” in action had been… a little bit traumatizing if she was being honest. 

“Yeah, but knowing about it and experiencing it are two pretty different things.” said Jaune, voicing Blake’s own thoughts.

“Yeah, that sucked.” Yang said, clenching her fist, still looking down.

Everyone in the room remained silent at her comment, and she seemed to snap out of something and looked up at everyone else. 

“What are you all looking at me for?” she said, her eyes flashing angrily. “Don’t treat me like I’m made of glass!”

Ok, now it was time for her to step in. 

“Yang.” Blake said calmly, touching her girlfriend thigh. Yang flinched slightly at the touch, but looked up directly into her eyes.

“We’re not trying to attack you, we’re just concerned.” Blake said.

“I- I’m sorry.” Yang’s eyes flashed back to purple and red. “What I meant was, she was your friend too. How are you guys doing?”

The room was silent for a beat. 

Jaune gave a look that said “guess I’ll go first” and took a deep breath.

“I dunno. This whole thing is kinda messing me up.” he confessed with a small laugh

“You and me both.” muttered Nora.

“What she doesn’t want to deal with us? She’d just rather fucking die?” he said, his laugh growing a little wild.

He abruptly stopped laughing and looked to the side. 

“I know that that’s not what she really thinks….” 

“But isn’t it? Though?” Nora jumped in, sounding frustrated. “You said it, Blake. It’s selfish and it’s stupid.”

“It is.” Blake allowed. “But I’m not really sure about her motivations.”

“Motivations?” asked Nora.

“I mean like, the why of why she did it.” she said.

“I know what “motivations” means, and I’m pretty sure that it was out of some misguided attempt to protect us.” Nora clarified. “I’m just questioning why we care. It doesn’t really matter why she did it. it just matters that it happened and it was fucked up.”

“I disagree.” said Blake. 

Nora opened up her mouth to argue, but Blake cut her off.

“I completely agree that it was fucked up. I agree that it happened and it sucked, I don’t think anyone is going to disagree with that. But I just think that it’s worth looking at context.” stressed Blake.

Jaune sighed. “I know. It’s just hard.” 

Blake motioned him to continue.

“I almost- as stupid as it sounds- don’t want to acknowledge her as a real person with thoughts and feelings.” he looked guilty saying it, but Blake understood all too well.

“It’s easier to think of people like they’re book characters, good or evil. No complex motives, just a mustache twirling supervillain and a shining beacon of goodness as the hero.” she said, a lump in her chest.

“But life doesn’t really work out that way, huh?” muttered Yang.

No. It didn’t.

Blake took her hand, and rubbed in in a way she hoped was comforting.

“Well, she clearly didn’t want any bodily harm to come to us.” Nora conceited.

“And she’s definitely more self destructive then us-destructive.” pointed out Ren.

“But how can she not see that it fucks us up to see her…” Nora began, then trailed off. Blake looked at her quickly, but she looked as if she were away.

“Oh wait… oh shit…” Nora said, realization dawning on her face. 

“Guys, she just… doesn’t know.”

Blake opened up her mouth to ask her for clarification, but Nora barreled on through.

“She has no idea that it messes us up to see her like this.”

Blake’s mind went completely blank.

“Wow.” said Ren, summing up the situation.

“I don’t know if that makes it worse or better.” murmured Jaune. 

“Better! Wait… worse. No….” Nora said.

“Cuz she’s not doing it to hurt us…” said Yang slowly, “But also, how conceited is she to not realize this.”

For a moment, there was silence.

“Holy shit, she needs like so much therapy.” Jaune surmised.

“Lets be real here, we all need therapy.” defend Yang with a little laugh.

Blake smiled. They really did.

If she was being honest, she really shouldn’t be leading the New White Fang, but eh. If not her, who?

When the dust had cleared, she had been the one to take down Adam and the Vale branch of the White Fang. Her, Ilia, and Sun had been the ones making speeches and attending town hall meetings, talking to locals in all Four Kingdoms and Menagerie. 

It had been her essays that had been turned into law, it had been her job to go and meet with authority figures.

*****

It hadn't even occurred to her, not really, until she had been introduced to a panel of high-ranking council members in Mistral as “Ms. Blake Belladonna, the leader of the New White Fang.”

Internally, she had screamed “What?”, but she had been too well trained to let it show on her face. Instead she had smiled and given her speech.

Afterwords, in the car riding out, she had faced Sun.

“Am I… the leader of the New White Fang?” she asked, cringing slightly.

“Uh, yeah!” he had said. “Did you… not know?” 

Blake looked down. “I guess it just… didn’t occur to me. I never really saw myself as a leader.”

“Are you kidding me?” Blake looked up, startled at the strong reaction.

“Why do you think I followed you to Menagerie in the first place?” he asked.

“A misguided crush” she wanted to say, but kept silent.

“I followed you because you inspired me to fight. And then you went out and inspired a whole heck of a lot of people, like Ilia.” Sun must’ve seen her stunned expression, because he stopped talking and took a breath.

“Look, you’ve been nonstop fighting for all of us. There’s no one better to lead us.”

Blake looked out the window at the city as they drove out, pondering his words.

Her first instinct was to willfully point out that yes, there were better people to lead the New White Fang.

She was far too young, and so was Sun, Ilia, and basically everyone else in her inner circle.

They were just a bunch of kids, really.

But, looking down in the scroll on her lap, and at the piece of legislation she was currently editing to propose, she really wasn’t. 

She might be just nineteen, but no one could argue that she didn’t have years of her life dedicated to the fight for Faunus rights. 

No one could argue that the things that she had seen, and the things that she had done didn’t count for anything.

She had pored her everything into this.

Blake smiled wryly. Somewhere along the road, she had become the person that she had always wanted to see lead the fight. 

“Well, I guess if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” she muttered. 

Then, with a deep breath, she looked down at her scroll and got to work.

She had governments to fix.

*****

The noise of a door opening snapped Blake to the present.

As Ruby gave her apology, Blake wondered about what the future held. Ruby’s words seemed to imply that she would be sticking around, which if Blake was being honest seemed like the absolute minimum she could do. 

Blake wanted to believe that she would do more, but she had been around the bush too many times to be anything more than slightly hopeful.

Seeing her leave again would hurt Yang, it would hurt Weiss, it would…. hurt Blake too if she was being honest.

Ruby might not have been her sister or her partner, but she had still been her teammate, her friend. She had been the first one in her corner when she had accidentally revealed her faunus heritage. 

Ruby had inspired her to believe in a new world full of kindness. 

Blake had looked up to her, and had modeled her own leadership style on Ruby’s, at least partially.

Losing the girl to Salem had been… bad. 

Fighting alongside Yang and Weiss without her was like fighting without a limb.

Seeing them lose themselves hoping to get her back had also been bad. 

Looking at the lab going up in smoke, Blake could only hope that this time, Ruby knew what she was doing.

Chapter Text

Ruby was exhausted.

Somewhere between the dramatic talks about her future and the army that she had fought, her energy level had plummeted.

Right after boarding their escape ship, she had had gobbled up three power bars and sat down with a sigh.

Her plan had been to do a sort of meditation while they flew, but next thing she knew she was jolted awake as the ship touched ground.

As she woke up, she automatically moved to stand up.

Which, as it turned out, was a mistake.

Sleeping on the ground in an awkward position really hadn’t been worth it. Her aura was recharged, sure. But her neck seriously ached.

Internally, she reprimanded herself. This was why she didn’t sleep on airships.

At least she hadn’t been the only one to conk out then regret it.

“Jaune can you rub my back?” asked Yang, who was wincing and rubbing her shoulder.

The whole group broke out in smiles, and Jaune said “NO.” loudly.

Ruby smiled as well, remembering Jaune’s heavenly skills, then the subsequent banning of said back rubs.

Qrow met them right outside the ship, looking just as tired as he had when they had left.

“I got your mission summary, but I’m kind of confused.” he said, raking his hand through his hair.

Yang motioned for him to continue as she stepped out of the airship.

“So… you attacked the facility.” he started, helping them inside.

Ruby sat on the armrest of the burgundy couch as her friends arranged themselves in the living room.

“Yeah” Yang said, flopping down on the couch near Ruby with a sigh.

“And then you found out that the prisoners had been… fused with Grimm, then you fought an army of them?” Qrow said, sounding skeptical.

“It was like a small army, but yeah.” Nora said, waving her hand from the armchair.

“And then you… encountered… Watts. Who, as it turns out, is a Grimm hybrid.” Qrow’s eyebrows wagged up at this, as if he didn’t believe the words he was saying.

“Yeah, it was really creepy.” said Ruby with a shiver.

“Then you all fought him?” Qrow said, indicating at the group.

“Well mostly Ruby one v one-ed him, but Weiss struck the final blow.” Jaune said from the floor nearby the armchair, leveling a glance at Ruby.

“Yep, he’s super dead now.” agreed Weiss from another chair, sounding a tad bit too satisfied for casual murder, but Ruby thought she was entitled to it.

“Sounds like you had quite the mission.” Qrow said, sounded exhausted.

“All in a days work.” said Ren.

Qrow looked at Ruby in the general-we’re-going-to-talk-about-this-later look.

“Well you all look exhausted. Get some rest, I’ll give you your assignments tomorrow.” Qrow said, and everyone flittered off.

Ruby followed them, but as she moved out of the room, she felt a hand grab the hood of her cloak.

She turned around, startled.

“Not you.” Qrow said, holding onto her hood, his knuckles white. “Come on.” he said, leading her out onto the porch.  

“What happened.” he asked, looking at her intently. 

Ruby resisted the urge to make sure that all the windows facing them were closed and that there wasn't anyone lurking in the bushes.

“In regards to?” she asked.

In front of her, the trees surrounding the base were green and beautiful, teeming with life. Ruby could hear birds chirping, and maybe if she looked at them long enough her uncle would disappear and she could stop having this conversation.

“Well clearly, something happened. Why were you the only one fighting Watts? There are a lot of… holes in your story.” he said, deadpan.

“What is this, an interrogation?” she muttered. “Uh, a lot of stuff happened.” she said, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. 

Clearly she wanted to avoid mentioning why she was the only one fighting Watts.

“Well, I realized that I need to spend more time with my friends.” she said, going for shock factor.

Qrow looked at her, confused.

“I mean, I realized that I wanted to make it up to them. And the only way I can do that is by spending time with them.” she amended.

Qrow looked as close to thrilled as she has ever seen him, but then his face morphed into a more stern expression. “Are you sure?”

“Whats that supposed to mean?” she asked, her face growing hot.

“You have to commit to this. If you go down this road, you can’t go back.” he cautioned. “If you decide that you don’t want to do this later, it will destroy your sister and your friends.”

Ruby took a deep breath, and for a minute thought about her life.

She had known there was no going back from the moment she run out of the holding cell carrying Weiss.

She had known there was no going back the second she entered Salem’s throne room.

She had known there was no going back the day she had entered Beacon.

Her life had been a string of no-going-back’s.

What was one more?

“I’m sure.” she said, squaring her shoulders.

His face morphed into an expression of approval. “Good. Now go get some rest. I’ll see what I can do for you when it comes to the assignments.”

Ruby nodded and went inside. 

Sitting in the living room was Blake, on the couch.

Right next to the open windows, mere feet away from where her and her uncle had sat.

Dammit. 

She knew she should’ve checked the windows. 

“He’s right.” Blake said.

Then, without another word, she left, leaving Ruby with that.

“No pressure.” Ruby said to the now empty room. 

Then with a sigh, she went to the room she had taken before the mission, and took what was in her opinion a well deserved nap.

******

It started with Yang, looking at her with pure lavender eyes.

She was standing completely still, her arms at her side loosely, a white haze surrounding her.

Ruby whirled around to see Weiss behind her, with Jaune and Ren flanking her. They were dressed like they did when they all went to Beacon.

They too, looked at her blankly.

“Guys?” she said. “What are you….”

She turned around again, and now Nora and Blake were on either side of Yang, also silently staring at her, also looking five years younger.

No accusations.

No curiosity.

Everyone was just… looking at her.

Blankly.

She turned again, looking for a way out, but there was no way out. 

She turned again, and now there was Qrow and her father, also looking at her. 

“Stop it. Stop it!” she said, feeling her panic building. 

Why were they all looking at her? What did they want?

“Ruby…”

She turned around, and was greeted with a punch to the gut in the form of Pyrrah, looking at her with her beautiful green eyes.

“What do you want from me?” she asked, choking back tears.

“Ruby…” 

Behind Pyrrah rose another figure, a woman clad in a flowing white cloak. Her hood obscured her face.

“What are you going to do?” The woman asked, raising her face.

It was Summer Rose.

Ruby’s dream disappeared in a flash as she sat up in bed, her heart pounding.

She hadn’t dreamt about her mom in… years. 

Weird. 

She tossed and turned for a little bit, but eventually drifted off into a fitful sleep. 

This time, she didn’t dream.

*****

In the morning, she got up and slogged to breakfast.

Sleeping in a bed again was great, but she didn’t want to face the next day.

Making up with her friends was going to be a lot of work, and right now she just wanted to sleep alone for about a hundred years.

She had gone five years without talking about feelings, her’s or anyone else’s. Now she was getting all of those talks condensed into like a week.

Talking to people normally was hard, but repairing her relationships…

Ugh.

But still. She had to do this. 

Heck, she wanted to do this. 

Any voice loudly protesting in her head otherwise was just, like, depression or something. She’d deal with it later.

The kitchen was crowded, which almost made Ruby turn around and go back to bed, but she steeled herself. 

No one commented on her entrance into the kitchen aside from a murmured “good morning” from Jaune.

She navigate the kitchen, pulled out some cereal, and went to the fridge to pour some milk.

“Whoa whoa whoa.” she heard a voice say. She looked up to find Ren looking at her.

“I’m making pancakes.” he said, tentatively smiling. 

Her stomach growled, almost against it’s will.

Ren? Pancakes?

She smiled and nodded. “Sweet!” 

Feeling slightly more attentive, she put away the cereal.

After that, she hung to the wall of the kitchen, and watched everyone move around like a well-oiled machine.

Ren was mixing up the batter, Yang was heating up the girdle, Weiss was chopping fruit, and Blake was keeping Nora out of the way.

Jaune was sitting next to Ruby, watching them.

At her questioning glance, he sighed. “My ban from the kitchen is still being upheld.”

Ruby’s mouth twitched into a smile. Jaune’s clumsiness plus open flame had never been a very good match. 

As Ren finished up the batter, he moved to the girdle.

Yang moved to the stove, and started grilling bacon. 

The delicious aroma rose up as Ren started to cook the pancakes, pouring them out in perfect circles. 

He flipped them up into perfect fluffy cakes.

Ruby’s stomach started rumbling more, and she stepped into the kitchen.

“I’ll set the table.” she volunteered, and Weiss directed her to the utensils, plates, and syrup.

Blake currently had Nora pinned on the ground and was sitting on her, so Ruby stepped over her on her way to the drawers. 

She set the table, and after she was done everyone filled into the dining room.

Ren was the last to enter, holding the three plates- one filled with bacon, another with fruit, and another stacked seemingly sky-high with pancakes. 

As soon as the plates were placed on the table, the race was on.

Not much talking happened at breakfast.

It was more like a battle.

A pancake battle.

But at the end of it, Ruby was very, very full. Her hands were also covered in syrup.

Qrow came in and surveyed the carnage. 

“Well now that you kids are done, you can receive your assignments.” he said.

Everyone pulled out their scrolls, and Ruby struggled not to get syrup all over hers.

“Blake- well I’m sure you already know, but you’re taking your little group over to Atlas.”

Blake nodded, looking unsurprised. At everyone’s questioning glances, she elaborated. “I need to make sure that everyone there is complying with the Faunas Rights Act. Nothing like a surprise visit to really gauge how things are working.”

Qrow nodded. “Yeah, I also need you to make sure that none of your predecessors ideas have spread up there. Not that some of the politicians don’t deserve a good kick in the ass, it’s just that-“

“In the middle of this war the last thing we need is social turmoil, I know.” Blake said, waving her hand like she’d heard it a million times. 

“Good.” Qrow said. “Ren, Nora- I need you to go stake out the supply lines in Anima. I wanna know how they were able to transport the amount of prisoners that they were to Watt’s lab without us knowing too much about it.”

“Can we destroy them?” asked Nora, a maniac gleam in her eyes. 

“Maybe.” allowed Qrow. “Only after you figure out how they did it.”

“Got it!” she said happily.

“Weiss, I need you to escort Jaune here to the hospital in Vacuo. Then, I need to know the quality of the Dust used by Salem’s frontrunners in the army there. I want to see if any of our efforts to cut off their access to dust mines is successful.” Qrow said.

“Yes sir!” she chirped. 

Qrow rolled his eyes on the “sir”, then looked at Yang.

“Yang, I need you to go track down Raven.” he said.

Yang opened up her mouth, looking angry, but he interrupted her.

“Look, I just need you to make sure that she isn’t getting any bright ideas about joining with Salem or swooping in on us while the areas over there are still recovering.” he said. “You won’t even have to talk to her. Just look at a distance, then leave.”

“Fine.” she said, gritting her teeth.

“Also Ruby, you’re going with her. You’d know better than anyone else what it looks like if someone is working with Salem” he said. 

Her first emotion was fear. Her and Yang alone? 

Yikes.

But this was what she wanted. 

Kinda.

“Yes your- I mean yeah no problem.” she amended.

Time to get going, I guess.

Chapter Text

Ruby frowned as she ruminated over the details of the mission. 

She had a few concerns about how this was going to help her “connect” with her sister better. 

As it was, just sitting on the plane across from Yang seemed like a weighted action.

Ruby’s memories of their childhood, and knowing how close they once were compared to how they were now, consumed her thoughts.

It was like she knew Yang better than anyone else but at the same time they couldn’t be more of strangers.

Yang had also been uncharacteristically quiet, which had’t helped Ruby’s mood, and had spent all of the ride staring out the window brooding.

That had lead to a very quiet ride.

And in the silence the ghost of their sisterhood whispered in Ruby’s ear.

Ruby had tried to think about the mission instead, but that just succeeded in making her worried instead of anxious.

When they were kids, Yang had been obsessed with finding her mom and getting answers. And Ruby had been there, cheering her on from the sidelines.

But they weren’t kids anymore. 

And within the past five years a lot had happened to Yang. 

A lot of stuff that Ruby hadn’t been around for.

And at least some of that stuff had involved Raven.

At least Ruby did know that Raven had been present at the Battle of Mistral, the total disaster that made Salem decide that all-out warfare first and Relics and Maidens last was actually the better plan. 

Not only did she know that the woman had been present, but she had even had the chance to talk with her.

Ruby’s interaction with Raven had been pretty brief, as she had been accompanying Hazel and not Cinder for obvious reasons, but it had been memorable. 

It was in the front room of Haven Academy.

The battle was already raging, people having paired off right and left and Adam’s forces occupied with what would later be known as The New White Fang 

Despite the chaos, they had both paused upon coming into contact with each other.

Raven had looked her over from head to toe, her eyes gleaming with raw emotion. Something akin to sadness, or fear, or even satisfaction.

Ruby had looked right back, the words that she wanted to say burning in her throat. Most of them centered on asking the woman why she had left Yang, and demanding an explanation.

She was also debating the positives and negatives of blatantly attacking her for it when Raven had broken the silence. 

“You look just like her, at least.” Raven had said, then whirled around to abandon the fight right as her Fake Maiden had died.

Mistral in general had just been an unmitigated disaster for Salem, Ruby thought with a grim smile. 

“We’re here.” Yang said morosely, snapping Ruby out of her haze. 

The two of them grabbed their packs and hopped out.

“No motorcycle?” Ruby asked jokingly. 

“No. Apparently some of the people in the area can still remember the blonde chick on the motorcycle who kicked everyone’s asses.” Yang grumbled out.

“I… guess its supposed to be a bit of a stealth mission anyway.” said Ruby, taken aback.

“Yeah.” said Yang begrudgingly. 

The two of them jogged along in silence. 

Qrow’s network had picked up a village that had been recently attacked, so they were going to go there then follow whatever path the attackers had left behind. 

They arrived at the village in the late afternoon, which Ruby was surprised to see was still standing.

“Lets go talk to the leaders, see what happened here.” Yang said, starting towards the gate. 

“Actually, you go in. I’ll look around out here.” Ruby said, indicating to the battle site.

Yang nodded, and Ruby released a little breath she had been holding in.

Ruby didn’t feel like explaining the whole “not evil anymore” thing to a bunch of villagers, and Yang was better at talking to people anyway. 

As her sister disappeared into the gate, Ruby turned her attention to the village’s defenses. 

These were dangerous times, and so the village, Sumire, had adapted to them. It was surrounded by walls made of vertical logs, and manned by what Ruby assumed was a 24/7 watch.

First, Ruby looked at the wall. It had some burn marks, as well as places where something had been stuck into the wall. 

So, they had tried to break it down initially, but had then decided to scale it? Interesting.

Either that or someone had been using the wall as target practice, but since it was the wall that was protecting the village, she assumed that no one would be that stupid.

Then, she knelt down in the dirt, looking at the faint tracks still in the ground. Good thing it had’t rained in a bit.

She followed them backwards into the bushes, where the markings indicated the attackers had knelt.

The picture was emerging. 

So, the attackers had staked out the wall, waited for an opportune moment, then had gone in guns blazing.

The attack hadn’t gone as planned, or so she assumed. After all, the village was still standing. And the tracks indicated a small group. So why had they-

“Hey” Yang said, emerging from the forest.

Ruby jumped a little bit at her sisters sudden appearance, but she tried her best to hide it.

“According to the mayor, they were attacked late at night four days ago. Three of their watchmen were killed, but besides that everything seems to be in order.” Yang said, sounding mystified.

Ruby agreed with the sentiment. It was great that hardly anyone had died! But at the same time… 

“That is a really low death count.” she said.

The Branwen tribe was known for being vicious and smart, hitting a place hard and not looking back. 

Ruby dutifully told Yang everything she had surmised from the exterior. 

“So, what, they were just a scouting party to test this place’s defenses?” Yang said. 

Ruby looked up. “That would be my best guess, but this…” she said, trailing off.

“It doesn’t feel right or match up with their normal tactics. If the watchmen themselves didn’t identify the bandits as Raven’s bandits specifically, I would think that they were a different group.” Yang finished, sounding troubled.

She shook her head and sighed. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. We’ll find out soon enough what they’re up to.” Yang then paused and looked at Ruby. “They did leave tracks back right?”

“Right.” Ruby said, gesturing in the direction they led. 

“Lead the way.” Yang said.

They followed it until it got too dark to follow the tracks. The two of them briefly entertained the idea of using a light, but decided the risk of ambush was too big.

So, they wound up sitting across a small fire eating dinner silently. 

As Ruby ate her food, she contemplated how she wanted to ask her question before settling on the direct approach. 

Once she was done, she set down her spoon and cleared her throat. “So, what happened between you and your Mom?”

Yang froze. 

Ruby internally winced, but she held fast. 

“Why do you want to know?” Yang said carefully after a measured silence.

Ruby waved her hand around in a general all-encompassing motion. “Seems important to our current mission.”

“Right, the mission.” Yang took a deep breath. “The short version? We had a bit of a discussion at Mistral. I tracked her down a few years ago to see if she wanted to join up after open warfare started, and she did not.”

Ruby hummed. It felt like there was a lot more to both of those stories. “Anything else I absolutely must know?” 

Yang looked annoyed. “Nope, that’s it.” Then, she got up and stretched. “I’ll take first watch.”

Ruby knew a dismissal when she saw one. 

She got up, and went to bed.

******

Under the stars, Yang breathed in the night air.

Her mother’s words floated through her mind, as if awoken by Ruby’s question. 

She really, really didn’t want to think about that woman, but with this mission she was going to have to comfort her memories sooner rather than later.

“Ruby?” The word was out of her mouth before she could catch it. 

“Yeah?” her sister sat up, her clothes rustling in the night.

Yang’s heart leapt into her throat, but she reminded herself that it was for the mission. “Raven… my mom… wasn’t at Mistral for long, but even so we had a short conversation. She told me some stuff about magic, and Ozpin, and told me to ask questions. But she wouldn’t answer my question, about why she left. So… I went to find her. Qrow gave me permission, but I wanted answers selfishly more than anything else.”

“Did she give them to you?” Ruby’s voice was quiet. 

Yang’s mouth was bitter. “Yeah. She did.” 

She shook her head, trying to dispel the thoughts. “Your watch isn’t for a little bit, go back to sleep.”

“Ok.” said Ruby.

Later, as Yang looked at the sky once more, she could have sworn she heard Ruby say, very quietly, “Thank you.” 

It was probably her imagination, though. 

*****

Ruby felt good the next day.

She hadn't gotten that much sleep the last night, but her heart felt lighter. Yang was confiding in her! A little bit! This was progress for sure. 

She was practically skipping as they followed the trail back to Raven’s hideout. 

Yang even seemed to be a bit more friendly today, which made Ruby happy. Maybe she could do it!

“No Grimm around here.” Ruby commented in an attempt to drum up a conversation.

“Yeah, well I guess people around here are just confident in their Village defenses.” said Yang.

“If they’ve lived this long, then I guess they are.” said Ruby, thinking about Sumire. That village had been around for an impressively long time. 

“Wait a minute!” said Yang suddenly, stopping in her tracks.

“What?” asked Ruby. She recognized the look on Yang’s face. 

Her “idea” look.

“We know from yesterday that something weird is going on with the bandits, right?” Yang asked, pointing for emphasis. 

“Well know is a big word, but yes.” Ruby corrected.

“But maybe that’s just it. The only people out here are people who have been out here, right? For a long time?” said Yang.

Ruby was starting to see the picture Yang was painting. “Go on.”

“Well Raven thinks that only the strong should live or some bullshit, and her Tribe feeds off of weak, new settlements that are just getting their feet off the ground.” she continued. “And that has worked for years, but right now something is going on that hasn’t been going on. The war.”

“And since we’re in the middle of a war, no one is going to move away from the kingdoms! Making a village normally is hard enough, but right now all the able-bodied people in every kingdom are out fighting.” Ruby said, everything dawning on her.

“Right. And it’s like what Qrow’s always saying to Blake! You can’t create social upset in a time of war. That kind of talk would be immediately shut down.” said Yang triumphantly.

“Thats a pretty good theory.” Ruby said, impressed. “Just one thing though. Raven has someone in her Tribe with Maiden powers, right? Why not just hit the Villages with that? No matter how strong they are, they’d crack like an egg.”

Yang snorted. “You could say that. It’s Raven who has the Maiden powers. And she’s way too afraid to bring any more of that to light than she has to.”

After a pause, she also added, “Maybe it hasn’t gotten that desperate anyway.”

Ruby was still digesting the information Yang has revealed. “Raven is the Spring Maiden? Salem just thinks it’s someone else in her Tribe.”

“Looks like Mother dear was able to pull a fast one over them.” Yang said humorlessly. 

Ruby’s head was still spinning. “Wait, no. We need to spend more time on this. Raven? The Spring Maiden? Really?” 

Yang nodded. “Really.”

“I thought Maidens were supposed to be all youthful and stuff at first. Are all the Maidens just gonna be really bitter middle aged women that we know? Whose next?” asked Ruby. “Like is mom going to show up and reveal herself to be the… oh god… the Summer Maiden?”

“I’m… pretty sure that the Silver Eyes power would cancel out the Maiden powers.” Yang said impatiently.

Ruby thought about that. “Yeah, Salem did say something about my Silver Eyes being the only thing that could stop Maiden powers or something. But wait, that’s another good question. Why is that a thing?” 

Yang took a deep breath, resigning herself to the topic of conversation. “You know what, that’s a good question. Silver Eyed Warriors are supposed to be able to defeat Grimm. Maidens were given powers by some old guy in a shack. How are those two things related?”

“Maybe my eyes are like… anti-magic? And Grimm are kinda magic? They do come out of pools fully formed.” Ruby theorized. 

“They do what?” asked Yang. 

“I thought I mentioned it already. They do that.” said Ruby casually. 

Yang appeared to be having trouble with that thought. “They… do that?”

Ruby was saved from having to give her sister the Grimm version of “The Talk” by the sight of a camp growing larger on the horizon.

“We’re here.” Ruby said, pointing.

“Well, time to see what’s really going on here.” said Yang, cracking her knuckles.

Chapter Text

Ruby looked at the camp through her binoculars.

Her and Yang were laying behind a small knoll, observing the camp in front of them.

“It looks pretty well-guarded. Can you see anything?” Ruby asked, passing her binoculars to her sister.

Yang took them from her and adjusted them.

“No.” she said sadly. Then abruptly she put the binoculars down, groaned and turned over.

“I really, really don’t want to have to talk to her.” she moaned.

“Yeah…” said Ruby, not really knowing what else to say.

Yang sighed. “But we have to go in if we want the information. There’s no way to confirm our theory without getting a closer look.”

Ruby frowned. “How do you want to do this? Should we sneak in under the cover of darkness, or what?” How could they do this without talking to Raven?

“No, if we’re doing this we’re doing this my way. Fuck it, let's go.”

At that, Yang got up and stepped over the knoll.

“Wait!” Ruby said, giving the camp another look. “What’s the plan?”

“Just follow my lead and don’t talk too much.” Yang said, marching determinedly towards the camp.

Ruby scrambled to follow her, a pit in her chest. This wasn’t going to end well, she could tell.

Yang walked up to the gates, her eyes focused on the door.

The guards outside looked at them, once, twice.

Their jaws dropped.

“It’s her!” the one on the left whisper-yelled as they both grabbed for their weapons.

Ruby was used to people acting that way around her. But they weren’t looking at her. They were looking at Yang.

And Yang wasn’t slowing down.

The guard on the left broke into a sweat. “Wh-what are you…”

“Move.” Yang simply said, still walking forward.

Ruby thought she heard him whimper. What had Yang done here the first time?

The one on the right pointed his spear at them shakily. “We won’t let you…”

Yang activated her gauntlets.

The sound made the two men jump, drop their weapons, and run inside.

“She’s back!” they yelled as Yang blew the front door of the camp off its hinges.  

The inside was full of tents and people, all of whom stopped what they were doing to look at them.

Then, they ran.  

One man ran up to them and started yelling “Raven is gonna-”

Yang shot him away absentmindedly.

“Where is my deadbeat mother?” she yelled over the confusion.

In a dawning realization, Ruby remembered what made her look up to Yang so much in the first place; her balls of steel.

“Stop.” A commanding voice rose above the chaos, emanating from the main tent.

The entire camp seemed to freeze in place.

Raven Branwen, the Spring Maiden, emerged from the main tent. She seemed to personify a snake, coiled and ready to strike.

Her eyes were fixated on Yang, and she didn’t look very happy.

“Yang.” she said.

*****

“Egg-donor.” Yang gritted out. Raven’s mere presence was exhausting, but she kept up her gaze.

“Why are you back?” Raven asked, sounding tired.

Raven broke their eye contact and scanned the area, her eyes widening as they landed on Ruby. “And why have you brought Salem’s Reaper into my camp?” she said, grabbing her sword.

Ruby softly winced from next to Yang. “I’m… not doing that anymore.”

“Hm.” Raven’s hand still didn’t leave her sword.

“Come into my tent. I don’t want an audience.” she said, turning her back.

Yang rolled her eyes. Her mom was such a drama queen, honestly. But still, she followed her into the tent as the bandits moved along and back to work.

They stood in a room with a small table.

None of them sat down.

“I ask again, why are you here?” said Raven impatiently. “Finally got sick of running around with my idiot brother?”

“The Tribe. Are you having trouble finding targets?” Yang asked bluntly, going for the jugular.

Raven tensed more, if that was possible. “My Tribe is as strong as ever-”

“Not what I asked.” Yang said. So that was a yes, then.

“Times are hard. You must also be feeling the crunch if you’re working with the likes of her.” Raven said, gesturing over to Ruby.

Yang saw her sister bristle out of the corner of her eyes, and snorted. “You’re one to talk.”

“Yes, I am. You still look like her.” Raven said, addressing Ruby. “But she was so holier-than-thou… and you’ve stooped down below even my my level”

Yang internally sighed. It was always about Summer with Raven.

But Ruby looked mad. “I left to protect my friends, to protect Yang. You didn’t do shit.”

Yang was surprised that Ruby was defending herself. She would’ve thought that Ruby’s self-hatred overpowered everything, but she guessed that Raven was just that god damn unlikable.

Raven snarled. “Don’t pretend to be better than me.”

“She doesn’t have to pretend, she is.” Yang interrupted, deciding to throw her hat into the ring. “You left because your self preservation outweighs your sense of loyalty to your family!”

Ruby might have made a lot of bad decisions, but at least her motives were somewhat good.

Raven was just a really shitty mom.

“Don’t you stand there and judge me!” yelled Raven, stepping forward.

Suddenly, Yang was eighteen again, standing in front of her mother, finally realizing her childhood goal.

Righteous anger blossomed in her chest and rose up, becoming a wave of emotion that carried her down, down to a dark place.

“No. I get to judge you. I get that right because you’re supposed to be my mother ! ” she yelled.

*****

They had been sitting in this exact room. Talking.

Or more accurately, fighting.

“You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through!” Raven yelled, anger bleeding into her voice.

“That’s it, right there.” Yang said, cutting through her words. “ I don’t know you. I never got to know you! You left! And now I’m starting to see why.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt it, beating in her chest. The truest truth of them all, the answer to the question that she had always asked.

How long had she known the answer? It felt like it had always been there, buried among her other problems.

She hardened her heart and summoned up the words.

“You’re too scared to stay and fight. When something threatens you, you run. And you won’t fight with us against Salem, not in a million years.” she was perfectly calm.

“Salem has a Silver Eyed Warrior. She has powers that directly counteract mine!” Raven argued, something akin to real fear showing in her eyes. “Summer clearly didn’t do a good job with that one.”

Yang saw red. “You’re just mad because Summer was brave enough to take what you wanted!” she yelled.

Raven went completely silent, a deadly kind of silent.

Like a snake before a kill.

“That’s why you’re so mad at her. Summer got a happy family. Summer got Dad. And Summer… got me.” Yang’s eyes filled with tears as the words spilled out.

Raven remained silent, but it felt less like a threat this time and more like an admission.

Yang wiped her eyes, not looking up. “I’m going to go now. And I’m going to fight Salem and save the world. And I’m going to do it just how I’ve gone through my life these past eighteen years. Alone.” she cursed her voice for cracking on “alone”.

Doing this felt right, but it also hurt so bad. Like tearing away a piece of her that she hadn’t known was there.

She wasn’t lying. She really was used to being alone.

And she didn’t need a mother like Raven.

But that didn’t mean that running out of there, she didn’t shed a few tears.

******

“You were supposed to protect me! You were supposed to be there for me! You were supposed to love me ! So yes, I can judge you. I reserve that goddamn right!” said Yang. She strained her eyes, keeping her tears in. “Now, we came here to make sure that you weren’t involved with Salem. You aren’t, right?”

Raven shook her head mutely.

“I didn’t think so. You wouldn’t fight for your blood, for me. Of course you’d never sign up for a losing war.” Yang said bitterly, turning to go.

“You can’t just leave!” asked Raven, sliding her sword out slightly. Her movements were threatening, but her voice had an edge to it, a kind of desperation. Even… pleading.

Yang was even closer to tears now. She couldn’t move, and her throat felt like it was glued shut.

“Yes, we can.” said Ruby, stepping in front of Yang, startling her slightly. That's right, she wasn’t here alone this time.

“Because I have two reasons why you’re gonna let us.” she said pointing to her eyes.

Raven slid her sword back into its sheath almost automatically, like a flinch.

Despite the low light of the tent, Ruby’s eyes seemed to gleam slightly.

Raven turned around in a move that looked almost awkward. “Go, then.” she said stiffly.

Yang took that as her opening and marched out of the tent, away from her mother, through the camp, and slammed the re-mounted doors behind her.

Internally, she berated herself. Just Raven looking like she was thinking about maybe being a mother for once had caught her way too off guard.

She couldn’t help it.

Once they were a safe distance away, she let out a shaky breath that she had been holding in and turned around to Ruby.

“What was that with the Silver Eyes?” she asked abruptly.

“I figured Raven would be-“ Ruby started, but Yang interrupted.

“No, I mean I just- kinda thought you couldn’t do that anymore.” There was never any recorded moments in the war of The Reaper doing it after all, and Ruby hadn’t used it against Watts.

Yang had taken that as conformation that she couldn’t use it anymore.

Ruby looked down. “Its weird. I… couldn’t. But just then, I felt like I was so mad that I was going to. And anyway, Raven didn’t know that I was having issues with the power.”

“So you haven’t been able to use it?” asked Yang, looking for confirmation.

“Yeah, Salem tried to coax the power out of me, but for some reason nothing took. She was getting pretty mad about that, but then the war started up and she had bigger problems to deal with.” explained Ruby, her eyes turning into something cold and scared.

Yang nodded, storing that piece of information away.

At that, they started on the road back down from where they came.

*****

They set up camp early. Yang had a bit of a haunted look in her eyes, and Ruby didn’t like how torn up she had looked in Raven’s tent.

She, unfortunately, had a lot of experience seeing Yang upset having both grown up with her and for other obvious reasons, but this was a standout.

Yang’s eyes had looked like they were going to burn straight out of her skull several times, which was concerning enough. The really worrying thing, in her opinion, was seeing her freeze up. It was disconcerting to see the strongest person she knew so shaken.

Ruby assumed that Yang was exhausted, and would flatly fall asleep right after dinner. Then maybe she would be better in the morning.

Because of that assumption, she was caught off guard when Yang cleared her throat and said “How about we spar?”

Ruby was a bit confused, but readily agreed. Maybe Yang wanted to burn off some left over rage.

The two of them stood a little bit away from their camp in a secondary clearing.

“No weapons or semblances.” said Yang. “That would be a bit too dangerous.”

Ruby agreed, but was still sad to put Crescent Rose away. She had picked up some stuff in the last five years, but her scythe was still her baby.

She straightened up, and looked at Yang, who cracked her neck.

The two of them circled around each other, checking out their opponents defenses.

Ruby made the first move, going in for a leg sweep.

Yang jumped above it, and went in hard for a punch.

Ruby wove around her and tried to catch her off guard from the back, but she was met with a block.

Yang went in for a kick to the hip, which hit Ruby hard, but she recovered.

As they fought, Ruby realized that this had been a bad idea. Yang had always been a lot better at close combat, and even without her gauntlets her hits packed quite the punch.

She wove around Yang as best she could without her semblance, but without her scythe her reach was seriously cut down.

“I meant what I said today.” Yang said as they fought.

Ruby was caught off guard, and Yang knocked her down with an epic double punch, one that knocked her off her feet and one that smacked her down into the ground.

“You aren’t like Raven.” Yang said from above her.

Ruby nodded, relieved that Yang thought so.

“You have issues, don’t get me wrong. But you didn’t have the same reasons for doing what you did as my Mother does.”

“I think I’m starting to realize that regardless, my actions were still not right.” Ruby conceited with a sigh, thinking about the past day.

Four years ago, Yang had to deal with Raven alone. It wasn’t any of Ruby’s business what had happened, but if today was this bad, she couldn’t even imagine how hard it had been.

And it begged the question: what else had happened while she was gone? What else did she miss?

Yang nodded. “But if I try to understand why you did it, will you try to understand why we feel like we do?” asked Yang.

“I will. I promise.” said Ruby, meaning it. “And… I’ll try harder.”

“Ruby, I don’t need another shield to protect me. I just want my sister back.” Yang said, her eyes clear and honest.

“I’m not the same person I was.” Ruby warned, a pit in her chest. “I’ve done things…”

“I’m not the same person either.” Yang interrupted with a shrug.

“Then I would be honored to be your sister again.” Ruby said, meaning it. She just hoped that she didn’t screw this up.

“And nothing would make me happier than having you back.” said Yang, holding her hand down to Ruby.

Ruby looked at it, and without hesitation, took it.

Yang hefted her up.

“Wanna go again?” she asked.

“Only if you show me how you did that double punch!” Ruby said with a grin.

As they fought again, Ruby reflected.

Things weren’t perfect between her and Yang. They were never going to get back to how they were.

But maybe that was ok.

Maybe her having Yang’s back and trying to make up for all of their lost time would be enough.

For just a second, Ruby let herself hope that it would be enough.

And under the stars, The Rose-Xiao Long sisters sparred together once again.

Chapter Text

“So… how are you doing?” Ruby asked awkwardly, swinging her legs back and forth.

Ruby hadn’t known about what exactly her post-spy career would look like, but she certainly expected something a little more high action.

Instead, she had somehow been shuffled from “Bandit Camp Raid” to being put on escort duty.

And not just escorting anyone, escorting Blake of all people.

She literally couldn’t think of a bigger waste of her talents. After all, Blake was an incredible fighter.

So why was she here?

She knew that this was probably just Qrow pushing his influence to try to get her to make up with her teammates, but she wondered what the official reason was.

“Good.” Answered Blake, who was patiently typing away on her scroll.

They were in a small office type space with the blinds drawn. Blake was seated in the large leather chair, and Ruby sat on the hardwood desk.

It was probably weird that she was sitting on the desk, huh? Oh gosh she wasn’t making Blake uncomfortable by being so close to her was she?

Why hadn’t she just sat on the other chair in the office like a normal person-

Ruby cleared her throat, trying to dispel her thoughts.

“Where’s Sun and Ilia?” she asked, legitimately curious.

She didn’t want to distract her former teammate too much, but the silence was making her thoughts a little too dark.

Blake hummed absent-mindedly. “There was something going on in Vale. I had to stay here in Atlas to finish things up, so I sent them ahead.”

Ruby nodded. Vale was, after all, where the original incendiary branch of the White Fang had been. It made sense that there were still stragglers. “Whatever happened to Adam Taurus anyway?” she murmured under her breath, more to herself than to Blake.

But the hands on the keyboard stopped typing, and Blake had a vacant stare on her face, and something akin to satisfaction in her eyes.

Ruby realized her mistake and rushed to correct it. “I mean-”

“No it’s fine.” said Blake closing her scroll.

Oh dust, this was a close-the-scroll type conversation.

“It never… got around to you?” Blake asked awkwardly.

“No, I mean I did hear that Adam had been eliminated, but I never knew how.” she had always personally imagined that it had involved a lot of painful screaming and then a sort of cracking noise followed by a few gurgles then silence.

Looking at Blake now, she doubled down on her mental assumption.

Blake looked out the window of the office, her eyes looking like she was a million miles away.

“Well, after he fled the scene at Haven, we had a ton of stuff to do. But him being taken down was important for Yang, and I thought that she needed a win.”

Ruby nodded, feeling a twinge of knowing that she was why her sister had needed that win.

“He had crawled his way back to a place that had held… significance to us.”

*****

Forever Fall. Of course that dramatic ass bastard would crawl back there.

For all intents and purposes, the White Fang camp looked abandoned.

The tents that Blake remembered being full of her “brothers” were gone, but some of the wooden poles that supported them were still there.

As her and Yang picked through the ruins, she felt something prickling on the back of her neck. Something was watching her, she knew it.

She turned to Yang, who looked at her at the same time, her eyebrows furrowed.

So she felt it too, huh?

It could just be Grimm. Or it could be a far worse monster.

She mouthed a countdown to Yang, and on the count of five she turned around, her weapon ready.

She fired off a few shots at the presence she felt, and saw a head of red hair speed through the trees.

Him.

She took off in the direction he was headed, Yang hot on her heels.  

As she ran through the forest, she realized where he was headed:

To the beginning of the end.

As she broke through the brush, she skidded to a halt, her weapon in hand and ready.

Things would end here, Blake thought. Only her life would be like this.

“He’s here.” she said to her partner.

Yang nodded, looking around at the scenery. “Is this…”

“This is where it all went wrong.” said a voice from the trees. His voice.

“It went wrong long before this.” Blake said, Gambol Shroud at the ready.

In a movement so fast it had her head spinning, he was right in front of her. She barely had time to hold up Gambol Shroud to catch his blow, his blade inches from her face.

“We were so good together! Without you… I slipped farther and farther.” he said, the mania in his voice growing louder. Yang moved towards them, but Blake nodded her off.

“Don’t put this on me.” she snapped as she pushed him off of her. “You made your choices. I made mine.”

I know that you’re just trying to manipulate me. She wanted to say.

“Oh my love, is that really what you think?” he said, putting his hand up to his face. He pulled the mask aside.

Blake flinched at the sight.

She could feel her stomach curdling at the memory of when he had first shown his face to her. How stupidly special she had felt.

“You’re uglier than I thought you’d be.” snapped Yang, who was immediately at her side. “No wonder you left, Blake.”

Adam put a hand on his face, his eye peeking through his fingers. “It’s not about that. It was never about hiding my face. It was about the fear that it instilled in people.”

Blake’s blood ran cold. She had known, somehow.

She could remember the rumors that he was scarred from some horrible hate crime committed by a human, or that he had some rare ability.

Rumors that Adam had done nothing to dissuade.

But here it was, the truth.

And the truth was that Adam was just another guy.

“I’m. Not. Afraid.” she said, drawing herself up to full height. “Let’s end this!” she said, catching Yang’s eyes.

Her partner smiled fiercely, looking every inch a warrior.

Blake’s heart skipped a beat at that smile.

There was no one else she’d rather have at her side.

Together, they attacked.

Adam started off with slow and powerful blows, forcing them to adapt to his pace.

Blake knew that he was waiting to strike with one of his aura-cutting moves, and didn’t want that blade anywhere near her partner.

As she dodged his blows, she tried to think of a strategy.

An idea hit her.“Yang!” she said, calling her partner behind her as she created three clones in quick succession.

her partner jumped back behind them as Adam cut them all down.

Just as Adam cut off the third clones head, Yang burst through it, low enough to avoid his sword wholly.

She landed a punch, and in the short time it took Adam to recover her and Blake were already pressing forward.

Adam was an amazing fighter, and his aura-cutting abilities were something to be feared.

But none of that mattered if he couldn’t touch them.

And her and Yang were like a whirlwind.

Gambol Shroud’s ribbons moved around them as she easily changed between using it as a ranged weapon and as a blade.

Her and Yang were perfectly in sync, and she grinned a secret smile. Somehow, she had never felt safer than she had in this moment, facing her worst enemy.

She was flying.

And Adam was falling, getting angrier and sloppier

Yang jumped forward, right into his personal space, and engaged him in some fast close quarter combat.

“I see your friends are fighting your battles again!” He yelled as he tried to fight off Yang.

“She’s not fighting for me.” Blake said, loading her cartridge with a little present from Weiss. “She’s fighting with me!” And she fired at the ground near him.

Ice sprouted up at his feet, trapping him.

Yang jumped up into the air at the same moment, and Blake threw Gambol shroud.

Yang caught it, and Blake swung her around in an arc.

As long as Blake lived, she was going to remember Adam’s shocked face.

He moved his sword up in a desperate attempt to ward her off but-

“TAKE THIS ASSHOLE!” Yang yelled as she punched with her robot arm.

The shock of the blow went right through the sword, which snapped just as Yang’s fist made contact with his face, utterly shattering his Aura.

Blake pulled Yang back as Adam fell onto his knees. His swords shrapnel was embedded in his chest.

It looked really nasty.

He coughed up blood, and looked at her, his eyes wet. “You’re with this… beast of a woman instead of me?” he said, his voice simmering with anger.

Blake felt herself getting really, really angry.

No she wasn’t with Yang, and it was all his fault.

She had been so… scared of her feelings for Yang.

Blake had found people attractive before. That was fine. If she had just been physically into Yang, that would have been fine.

(It wasn’t hard to be physically into Yang.)

But the problem was, she had felt more.

She also wanted to…. hold Yang’s hand. And… sit with her and put her head on her shoulder. She wanted the two of them to talk for hours.

And, horror of horrors, she wanted… to live a domestic life with her.

Looking at Yang made her want to buy a nice apartment, get a stable job, and maybe get a cat.

Disgusting.

And Blake had been so terrified that if she had so much as had those dreams, they would be taken away by Adam. That somehow thinking them into existence would make them vulnerable.

But she wasn’t going to run anymore.

Fuck Adam, and fuck her issues.

“I’m not with Yang… yet.” then, she turned to her partner.

She wanted the apartment. She wanted it so badly.

“The truth is, I’m in love with you. I have been since Beacon.”

She hardly heard Adam’s scream of defeat. This wasn’t about him. This was about them.

She studied her partner’s eyes. They were a beautiful lavender, and she was looking at Blake with shock and hope.

Yang took a deep breath. “Blake… If you love me, why’d you leave?”

Blake looked down. “I… thought that if I left I could protect you from this.. from him.” she said, gesturing to Adam’s broken body.

“But… I realized that we’re stronger together. You make me better.” she said, stepping forward.

Yang stepped forward too, and took her hand.“No, you make me better!” Yang said forcefully. “Blake, since you took down that Ursa in the Emerald Forest, I liked you. Then I got to know you and then I loved you.”

Yang took another step forward, pulling Blake up into her arms.

“Can we kiss?” asked Yang, her face close to Blakes.

“Yes!” said Blake. She put her mouth on Yang’s. It was an awkward kiss, but it was perfect. Sure, her and Yang’s teeth were clacking.

Sure, her breath probably didn’t smell great.

But she was kissing Yang, and that made everything perfect.

The sounds of her evil ex-boyfriend dying in the background was a plus too.

*****

“Wow that’s…” Ruby said, coughing slightly.

Blake snapped back to attention. “Anyway, after that, Yang and I… got together.” she said with a shrug.

“Oh yeah that reminds me… What are your intentions with my sister?” Ruby asked, pointing at Blake in an accusatory fashion.

Blake blinked owlishly. “I…”

“I’m kidding. Anyway, congratulations on that. I was really happy for both of you when I heard.” Ruby said, tasting something bitter sweet in her mouth.

Blake smiled awkwardly. “For what it’s worth, thanks. And uh, hey.” she said, taking a deep breath. “I know you’re not in a great place right now mentally speaking, and haven’t been in one for a while.”

Ruby’s breath caught in her throat. It was all she could do to nod mutely.

“I don’t know exactly what you’ve been through, but you can talk to me. I’ve dealt with some pretty bad stuff in the past, so maybe I can help?” Blake said, reaching her hand out to rub Ruby’s.

For a second, Ruby was completely still, caught by the emotional whiplash.

“Are you sure?” asked Ruby. “I don’t want to dump anything on you.”

“I offered.” said Blake wryly.

“Ok then.” said Ruby, taking a deep breath.

“Did you ever get these little thoughts in your head telling you that you’re the worst person in the world?” she asked, almost surprised with her own honesty.

Blake nodded. “Only all the time. Self hatred can be really hard to deal with.”

Ruby took a deep breath. “Yeah, I guess that's what it is. Anyway, how did you get rid of it?”

Blake laughed softly. “I don’t know if I ever fully will. There’s always going to be a little voice in my head telling me that I’m the reason that everything goes wrong.”

Ruby’s throat got uncomfortably tight. That sounded a bit too familiar.

Blake was staring out the window again. “But… I have people now. A family. They support me, they tell me that I’m not as bad as that little voice says. And the voice gets quieter.”

Unbidden, tears sprung to Ruby’s eyes. “I… hate myself.” she choked out. “I don’t want to be me. I don’t like myself.”

“You’re not as bad as the voice tells you.” Blake said loudly, forcing Ruby to look into Blake’s eyes. “If you were, than Yang wouldn’t have given you another chance. I wouldn’t be giving you another chance.”

Blake was.. right.

The sheer relief that overpowered Ruby was enough to get her tears flowing.

But still, a piece of doubt remained, stuck deep in her chest.

But as Blake pulled her into a hug, it vanished.

Ruby could only brokenly whisper, “You’re f-family.”

“Ruby Rose never stopped being in mine.” Blake whispers, and that’s enough to make the voice in Ruby’s head just a little bit quieter.

Chapter Text

Ruby was hesitantly optimistic about how things were going. She was making good progress with her team, and Blake’s advice seemed to echo in her head during quiet moments of contemplation.

Huh, maybe she wasn’t the worst person in all of Remnant? What an odd concept…

Though to be fair, the world also had Salem and crew in it, so maybe that wasn’t quite the achievement she thought it was.

But hey, it was something.

She should really let Weiss know what had gone down. Her former partner would be so proud of her! But how to do that…

She mentioned the idea of talking to Weiss to her uncle, who always seemed to stick to her like a bad rash whenever she wasn’t on mission. She recognized that he was probably just trying to make up for lost time or something, so she didn’t point it out.

“Why not write her a letter?” he asked as they lightly sparred back and forth.

“Oh my gosh, I totally forgot that was an option.” she lamented as she went in for a blow.

“Yeah, the system that the army has going is actually pretty efficient. It's not like it was when we had the communication towers up, but it's better than nothing.” he said jumping back and deflecting.

“And while you’re at it, maybe write something to Tai.” he reminded with a look.

Ruby nodded, her heart aching at the mention of her father. She wanted to go see him in person and let her know that she was safe, but at the same time she wasn’t sure if she could take seeing him right now.

“Right.” she said, putting Crescent Rose down and reaching for her water.

******

When Weiss got a letter dumped on her desk, she barely blinked. She had several correspondences going, and it wasn’t unusual to receive something. She opened it up without thinking, and her eyes found the header, which was written in a vaguely familiar scrawl. She read the first few lines and mentally stopped dead in her tracks.

This was Ruby’s handwriting.

She immediately folded the letter up and shoved it into her jacket, resolving to read it when she wasn’t on the clock.

The letter weighted heavily on her mind, though and she found it harder than normal to get though the myriad of mission reports and intel briefings that required her attention.

Normally just knowing the importance of these documents was enough to keep her engaged, but she found her mind wandering back to Ruby.

She hurried back to her room after dinner, and flopped down on her bed while opening the letter.

Dear Weiss,

Hi! I’m still alive. I mean obviously, I wouldn’t be writing this if I were dead unless this is a note from beyond the grave or something. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Yang and I had a nice talk about everything and we are good now.

I mean, we’re not like, perfect, but we’re on good terms at least.

Things are still kinda weird, but thats fair, and I don’t really think things will ever go go back to the way things were. I’m starting to realize now that thats ok, because we’re different people now, but maybe our new relationship can be good too!

I also had a good talk with Blake, and she told me about how her and Yang got together. I can’t believe that her and Yang made out over Adam’s corpse! Classic Yang am I right?

Anyway, it occurs to me that I missed a ton of stuff. Anything life-changing happen to you that I should know about?

Also, Qrow told me I was going to be going on a mission with Nora and Ren next, and presumably after that something with Jaune. Any tips for that whole deal?

PleasewritemebackIneedadvice,

Ruby Rose.

Weiss felt a stir of something that felt suspiciously like affection in her chest.

“Dolt.” she muttered with a small smile.

She reached for her pen and paper at her desk, mentally composing her note. What to mention….

Dear Ruby Rose,

Glad to hear you are still alive. Gladder still to hear that you and Yang have made efforts towards rebuilding your relationship.

Yes, her and Blake starting their relationship over Blakes ex’s corpse is… quite the story. Back then, we were all so sick of them staring and sighing at each other that we were just happy to hear that they had gotten together, regardless of the circumstance.

As far as life-changing events go… I did get disinherited and disowned but besides that nothing really big happened that you weren’t directly witness to.

As to Nora, Ren, and Jaune they are not as unforgiving as you might think. Yes, you might struggle a little bit more but they will respect WBY’s feelings on the matter.

Stay safe,

Weiss Schnee

Ruby scanned the letter, happy to see the neat, reassuring handwriting of her former partner. She read along until she got to “Disinherited and disowned”, which she read multiple times before it finally sunk in. Despite her shock at the news, the “stay safe” still made her blush slightly. She grabbed her pen and immediately started writing.

Dear Weiss,

You got WHAT? I know your former father was a garbage bucket of a person but that is scummy. If you don’t mind me asking, what was the story there?

Also does that mean that you aren’t a Schnee anymore? Was I being even more insensitive than I was intending to every time I called you “Schnee”? If so, sorry.

And if you think you had it bad with Yang and Blake’s pinning, you have no idea what I had to go through as Yangs sister. It was ALL of the cliches, the “I bet you she’s straight” or the “Even if she isn’t then she can’t possibly be into me. She’s too perfect and I’m too not”. It drove me insane! Especially because Blake was OBVIOUSLY into her. It’s true what they say about girls who like girls, we really can’t get our shit together.

Ruby

Weiss stifled a laugh at Ruby’s letter, then paused. Was that… it was! A “we”! So Ruby liked girls, huh. Cool. “Interesting.” She said out loud, mentally trying to slow her heart. This was dumb, it was totally normal of people to pepper in references to their sexualities randomly. Totally normal. It was so normal, in fact, that she should do the exact same thing! Anyways, she should be more focused on how to tell her story about her dad concisely…

Ruby,

The story with my father is kinda weird in that it’s pretty anticlimactic. I sorta… summoned a Grimm at a dinner party, which got me disinherited immediately. After that, I started very publicly fighting in the war, he changed his tune, and I went from “unhinged” and “disgraceful” to “perfect” and “brave”. I was… upset at this, especially when he began talking about how much he missed me and wanted me home. After that, I very publicly disowned myself. In regards to my last name, don’t worry, I actually kept it to honor my grandfather, the one member of my family that I actually liked besides my sister.

I didn’t even confront him face-to-face, so it was about as uneventful as that sort of thing can be.

And hey, don’t give us girls who like girls so little credit…

(Even if we can be a tad dense.)

Weiss

Ruby read over Weiss’s letter multiple times, and played with her pen in her hand. She had so many questions. Like wow, Weiss never got a chance to talk to her dad face to face? How hard must it have been to go through that while also doing the war thing? When did she realize she liked girls? Would it be weird of Ruby to ask her these questions?

She put down the pen in frustration. She would write it after she got back from her mission.

Nora and Ren had found the supply lines in Anima, and had destroyed them all the way down to the source. The source, a large base of operations, would require a little bit more muscle and Ruby was going to come along to provide it.

As she had alluded to in her letter to Weiss, she was a little bit apprehensive about the whole thing. Ren and Nora were paranoid as all heck, able to sniff out deceit a mile away, and while Ruby didn’t think she was harboring any secret bad intentions, what if she was and she didn’t even know it?

Which was ridiculous, but what if?

At least she had Yang, Blake, and Weiss’s tentative approvals going for her. Maybe she should have gotten Yang to write her something like a sign that said “Ruby is fine now” so that she could brandish it at Nora and Ren.

She would just have to hope that somehow word had gotten around to them that she was cool now.

At least this was a mission about fighting, which was something that she could do very well.

Hopefully through her prowess she could win them back somehow.

She got onto the airship, her cloak secure around her and just the slightest bit heavier, as now it was not only carrying the photo, but also the letters her and Weiss had been exchanging.

Her life was getting better, and those letters helped remind her of that fact.

As the plane lifted away, she tried to scrounge up the advice that her uncle had given her about Ren and Nora.

“Just… watch their six.” he had simply said, slight concern in his eyes, which spoke volumes about the way he felt about them.

She was dropped by a large, rushing river that she ran next to as she made her way upstream to their rendezvous point.

She scouted as she went, searching for any ambush points or spies looking to attack their meeting point.

Along the river she found some abandoned, half-burnt watchtowers that she assumed had been taken down by Nora and Ren. Aside from that, there didn’t appear to be any human or Grimm life in the immediate area.

She slowed her approach and came into a sliding stop in front of the place that matched the description of the meeting place, a patch of dense bushes with blackberries growing through them next to the river.

Walking around the patch, she tried to figure out how to get inside—maybe just scatter and reform inside?—when she saw a small, dark tunnel hidden in some rocks next to it.

She paused for a moment, considering it, when she saw a movement inside. Her hand went for her scythe, but she paused when she saw Ren’s familiar face. He motioned for her to come inside. She nodded, put away Crescent Rose, and crawled into it.

The tunnel was very short, and they popped up inside the bush with Nora waiting for them. Inside was a space about as large as a small bedroom, but not quite as tall. It was covered on all sides by the brush, and was therefore very shady, but not necessarily dark.

“You made sure you weren’t followed?” asked Nora, a tense look on her face.

Ruby nodded, almost offended.

“Sorry, force of habit to ask.” Nora said, still looking like a board as she exchanged glances with Ren.
Well, Ruby understood that.

“Those towers… that was you guys, right?” asked Ruby.

Ren and Nora nodded simultaneously.

“They were using the river to transport all manner of things; supplies, prisoners, troops, basically anything.” said Ren. “Once we started taking the whole thing down, they stopped using the route, but we managed to find the distributing center.”

“They didn’t abandon the place? How well guarded is it?” asked Ruby, confused.

Nora cocked her head. “Not very, which we thought was weird.” she said slowly, looking at Ruby with an intensity that made her shift uncomfortably under the weight of two gazes.

“That sounds kinda like a trap, but I’ve never heard of that specifically being used as a tactic or anything.” Ruby offered up,

After another shared look between Ren and Nora, Nora cleared her throat. “We pretty extensively cased the place, and it truly looks like it’s run by people dumb enough to hunker down when things look dicey.”

Ruby digested the information. “So, you guys have a plan for taking it down?”

Nora and Ren looked at each other again, and man Ruby was starting to feel out of the loop, “Sort of, but we wanted you to take a look at it first.” Nora said.

*****

Staring at the place through a pair of binoculars, Ruby wasn’t very impressed. “You were right on the lien with your assessment. Under my management that place would not look like that.” she grumbled.

Nora cocked her head, and Ruby almost instantly regretted ever opening her mouth. “Its just- all made out of such poor material. That barbed wire wouldn’t even stop a Beowolf!” 

The post mainly consisted of two warehouses with a barracks in the middle. It was surrounded by a ring of fence made of the aforementioned barbed wire, which was patrolled by some frightened looking guards. The actual warehouse and barracks looked like it was made of halfway decent material, but now it looked dirty and old.

A picture was forming in Ruby’s mind; a post that was once carefully watched, probably by Watts or someone immediately under him, but one that had fallen into disarray as more eye-catching projects demanded attention.

A few possibilities for taking the place down raced though through her mind as she set down the binoculars.

“Oh, in case you couldn’t tell, that one is for Grimm, and is occupied.” Nora said, pointing to one of the warehouses.

“Oh.” Ruby said, bringing the binoculars back up to her face to reassess as she mentally scrapped a few ideas. “Well, obviously a sneak attack. Also, we’re not remotely close to any human settlements, right?”

Nora nodded.

“Ok, so I’m thinking we release the Grimm onto these guards in the dead of night, then kill whatever remains and burn the whole place down.” Ruby said. “Usually, the guards are taught how to handle Grimm, but I think at this point they’re too freaked out to muster up much of an emotional shield, and there aren’t any better targets around here for Grimm.”

Grimm and the human members of Salems army, when working together, was a terrifying force that prompted the opposing side to question the humanity of those in the army. Ruby had found, however, that the trick to the humans not getting attacked wasn’t anything particularly flashy. The negative emotions of those being attacked simply had to outweigh the emotions of those on Salems side.

“Especially if the famed Nora “Thunder Thighs” Valkyrie and Lie “Ninja of Death” Ren show up with Ruby “Death Angel” Rose show up to blow parts of the place up!” Nora said, pumping her fist excitedly and pulling a few massive fire dust crystals out from seemingly nowhere.

“Who calls you guys that?” Ruby asked. “Never mind, but anyway what was your guys plan?”

“Oh almost exactly that, but we weren’t sure if releasing the Grimm was a good idea.” Nora said with a shrug .

“Cool.” Ruby said as she sat back, feeling vaguely like she had just been tested. At least she had probably passed this round.

Chapter Text

The three of them waited till nightfall, switching off back and forth watching the base as they ironed out their plan. Ruby tried to focus while they prepped, but her mind kept wandering back to her companions feelings towards her.

Both of them were clearly watching her as close as they were watching the building, and not only that but she swore that they were having a silent conversation every time she turned her back.

Which, frankly, wasn’t doing awesome things for her paranoia.

She could only hope they were talking about how good Ruby was and how trustworthy she seemed.

She would want them to be watching her during the fight tonight anyway. They would see just how a good fighter she was, then if they didn’t want to forgive her for emotional reasons, they would at least want to forgive her just to have an awesome fighter on their side.

And while that wouldn’t be ideal, it would be something that she could use to work her way up the friendship ladder.

All of that was contingent on her performance tonight, she thought as she made sure her dust casings were all in order.

She could do this.

This was fighting.

This was easy.

As the night deepened into the early morning, moving into the hour in which even the most insomnia-ridden person would begin to feel tired, the three of them made their move.

Ruby followed Ren with her scope as he snuck into the heart of the base, planting the crystals onto the doors of the Grimm enclosure.

She smiled wickedly as she watched him get clear.

Truly, this was the best part of the job.

Once he was in position, she murmured into her com.

“Taking the shot in three, two, one, now.”

With a tap of her finger, their plan blew into motion.

The doors exploded, and Nora let out a whoop of excitement as shouts of surprise filled the camp.

People rushed out of bed and outside to see what the problem was and were immediately greeted by Grimm on the loose.

Ren and Nora jumped the guard, forgoing stealth for presentation. “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” Nora yelled at the guards as they ran straight into the mouths of the Grimm. “I’LL BREAK YOUR LEGS AND FEED YOU TO THE GRIMM MYSELF!”

Despite the context of indiscriminate murder, Ruby smiled as she went down to join them.

Using her semblance, she materialized perched on the gate. For added affect, she swung her scythe menacingly.

The mere sight of her, her cloak, and her grinning face had the guards practically pissing themselves in terror.

In the meantime, the fire had spread between the three buildings. Explosions, presumably from dust supplies left inside, shook the camp.

The Grimm were whipped into a frenzy by the fear in the air as they attacked the guards.

So maddened by the negative emotion, an Ursa tried to make a bite at Ruby. A simple swipe of her scythe put it out of commission though.

The three of them moved inward, systematically drawing the perimeter smaller as they killed what remained in their paths, mostly just Grimm, and pushing those remaining against the burning buildings.

As the circle drew smaller, it became apparent that at the very middle was a small group of people desperately fighting.

Nora and Ren took care of the last of the Grimm, and Ruby looked carefully at the men in the middle.

She wasn’t The Reaper anymore, so she stood and waited for Ren and Nora to make the call.

Nora stepped forward. “If you value your life, you’ll get down on your knees and drop your weapons.”

The men willingly surrendered, and Ruby took that as a cue for her and Ren to secure them. After doing so, Nora radioed for pickup and prisoner transport.

Nora looked at her hesitantly as they waited for the transport. “I’m not quite sure of this, but do you maybe want to come visit Jaune with us? We go and see him after missions, and we’ve been out here a while.”

Ruby’s heart leapt, and she fought to keep her face neutral. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

Nora nodded, smiling slightly.

When she turned her back to Ruby, Ruby silently fist pumped. Being good at fighting for the win!

They boarded the ship, and Ruby felt like she was on top of the world.

*****

Ren watched Ruby as they sat on the airship while Nora leaned up against him, starting to doze off.

He hadn’t taken his eyes off Ruby as their joint mission had started, and he had seen some very interesting things.

She seemed very uncomfortable in social situations, which made sense. Five years of limited human interaction plus awkward history? When they talked about fighting, she seemed to relax somewhat, but she still held some tension. Pre-Existing comforts with weapons talk? The most relaxed he had seen her was in battle, where she had almost seemed to enjoy herself. Using physical exertion as an escape from stress?

Right now though, she was actually asleep. Due to overexertion during the fight plus the all-nighter?

It also might have something to do with the little fist pump he had seen after Nora had invited her along on the trip.

Ren cast his mind back to Ruby’s body language in the battle, and specifically to the moment that had piqued his interest- Ruby had been very relaxed as she fought her way thought the group all they way up until she had seen the group of people in the middle. He had almost expected her to run in and kill them all, something that he had seen her do many times over the past five years. However, though her body had moved into position, she had stopped and waited for him and Nora.

Interesting.

Was this perhaps an ingrained response of differing decisions to a superior? But no, the decision had seemed to be made on the fly. She had consciously waited for them.

This showed at least some effort to change.

And so Ruby had passed their tests so far.

Now came the big one, dangle Jaune in front of her and see how she behaved. If things went well then maybe, just maybe, she was trustworthy.

Blake, Yang, and Weiss seemed to be willing to give her a chance. Simply because Ruby had passed their tests, especially Yang’s, Ren was willing to consider it.

Frankly, this whole thing hadn’t been easy on any of them. Ren knew that his partner wasn’t quick to forgive and forget, but he had a small but growing hope that maybe this would turn out ok.

They had lost too much already. Perhaps the universe owed them this one.

******

After debriefing at HQ, Nora, Ren, and Ruby got on a train headed for the hospital. Ruby felt weird in civilian clothes, which she had gone with in an effort of disguise herself.

She really didn’t want to be the cause of anyones traumatic flashback in the hospital, and so she had stowed her cloak with a tinge of discomfort and traded it in for her sister’s old brown jacket and some cargo pants.

So far no one in the train station had pointed and yelled, so she figured she was good.

Ruby hadn’t been in a hospital in a very long time, and was surprised that Jaune’s seemed to be clean and orderly, missing an element of the frantic disorder she would expect from a military hospital.

Ren seemed to notice her amazement. “Jaune has different wards depending on how badly injured a person is, and the whole facility is highly organized. This is the ward for people recovering.”

Ruby knew absolutely nothing about hospital procedure, but she nodded along, feeling impressed but not really knowing if she should be feeling impressed.

Nora and Ren looked very happy, practically glowing with pride as they walked through the halls of the hospital.

They turned a corner and Nora nodded at a man sitting at a desk, who was currently talking through a video screen.

“Yes, I can get more supplies down there - Hey Nora and Ren! He’ll be in in a little bit. - the situations been pret…” he continued as the three of them walked past his desk and pushed into an office.

As Ruby passed by, the man looked her over head to toe, curiosity evident in his eyes.

“Thats Morgan, Jaune’s receptionist. Good guy.” Nora supplied as the door shut behind Ruby.

Ruby eyed the room. It was large, befitting of the head of the hospital, but it was also very messy. There was a large window and a desk in the middle, with shelves lining the walls. The books were in disarray, and walking down Ruby saw everything from building codes to a guide on foot injuries, all in a seemingly random order.

The desk was absolutely covered in papers, and Ruby was sure that his desktop on his computer was probably a mess too.

While she had been evaluating the room, Nora had taken position on Jaune’s desk, with Ren sitting in one of the chairs clearly set up for visitors. He gestured at the second one, and Ruby took a seat wordlessly.

Hopefully she didn’t screw this one up, because there was no way they would forgive her this time.

After a little bit of brooding, the door slammed open. Jaune shouldered his way in, carrying a stack of papers.

“Guys, great to see you!” he said, stepping around in an effort to keep the stack upright.

Ruby moved to relive some of his burden.

“Thanks Ruby. Morgan told me Nora and Ren had someone with them, I assume the mission went well?” he finished, putting the papers down as Ruby followed suit.

Nora leaned over to him. “Yeah, it was a success and we got to burn stuff down, so I’d say that.”

“Oh wow, that’s quite the win. No injuries?” he asked, the question directed at Ren.

“No, we’re all fine. We weren’t even mildly in any danger.”

“Oh sure, rub it in.” Jaune said waving his hand, “We get it, you’re amazing at fighting, Mr. Ninja of Death.”

Huh, apparently those nicknames were official.

“Ruby, how have your missions been going? I hear you’ve been around.” his tone was a bit stiffer, but Ruby was happy to be included.

“Yeah, They’ve all been really good, I’ve worked with just about everyone now except for Weiss.” she said. “We’ve been exchanging letters though.”

Jaune nodded. “Thats good.”

“I uh… wanted to come see you.” she added in, feeling bold. “I’m really jazzed to be here. Could you tell me a little bit about your work?”

And just like that, it was like someone has flipped a light. Jaune lit up and launched into a talk about his various patients.

He looked really happy, talking about them. Ruby had trouble focusing on his exact words, but just seeing his face light up like she hadn’t seen in years was great.

“And Ebony was so pale when she was brought in, and I asked her friends and apparently thats normal for her. I think it might have something to do with her background, according to our psychologist on staff her favorite weather is rain and snow at the same time?”

“You have a therapist on staff?” Ruby interrupted.

“Yeah, her name is Beryl. She’s pretty swamped with patients, but she does some pretty great work. I’ve talked to her a few times.” he said.

“Thats really cool, have you guys ever…” she said, waiving her hand at Ren and Nora.

Nora shook her head as Jaune sighed. “No they’re always “too busy” he said, using air quotes.

Ren affixed a stare to Jaune. “I said we’ll go in after we’re done fighting, right now things are too volatile to heal.” his voice sounded firm.

Ruby could sense that she’d stepped into some bad territory. “Well I was just curious-

“I’m not saying you have to go in every week, you just should sit down and talk with her on a bad day.” Jaune said, cutting Ruby off, not looking at her.

“Most of my bad days, I’m not near you. A good day is when we’re near you.” Ren said.

“You guys can’t always protect me, you know.” Jaune said. “it happened to her, it could happen to me.”

Suddenly Ruby was struck by the need to be elsewhere.

“Oh…” Nora said, her eyes suddenly on Ruby.

“Um…” Ruby said loudly, her eyes wide, trying to draw attention to the fact that she was panicking.

Ren looked at her and his eyes widened. “Ruby…”

Jaune turned away from Ren, and suddenly his eyes softened. “You know.. we all got to mourn this. We all got to talk about it, and cry about it. I forgot, you really didn’t get that.”

Ruby felt like crying. “I got to talk about it, kind of. Not in the way I wanted to, though.”

For a moment, it was quiet. “Yeah, that was kind of messed up, and at the time we were super pissed, but I kinda get it now.” piped up Nora.

“I was always mad that you were stomping on her legacy like that. I wanted an apology for so long, to hear you acknowledge that it wouldn’t be what she wanted.” Jane said. His voice was calm.

“Yeah. Pyrrah… it was right in front of me… if it could happen to her… I wasn’t going to take that chance.” Ruby choked out, trying frantically not to cry.

“You… saw it.” said Nora lowly.

“And I can’t forget it.” Ruby confessed. “I knew that she would have hated it, I knew it was a perversion of her memory, but I was so mad. And Qrow said… He said that if I based my lie off the truth it would be more believable. And I had to do it, to use it, so it would never happen again. ”

Jaune nodded. “I get that. I understand that emotion. But you, all of you, have to learn to let that go to some degree. ”

Ruby opened up her mouth in protest, and saw Ren and Nora do the same, but Jaune held up his hand. “Not completely, we are in a war after all. Being protective of your comrades isn’t the worst thing. But I am in literally the safest place in Remnant. It is illogical to think that something is going to happen here.” Jaune sighed. “Please, I can tell it tears you guys apart. For me, please, try to trust me and my hospital security.”

Ruby nodded reluctantly, and saw Ren and Nora do the same.

“We’re sorry.” Nora said quietly.

“Its ok, like I said I get it. That same feeling drives me forward to save as many people as possible. But when it becomes debilitating, thats when it becomes a problem.” Jaune said sagely.

Ruby nodded. “Geez, when did you get so smart about mental health?” she said jokingly.

Jaune smiled. “Somewhere between my specialization into wartime medicine and my personal therapy appointments, I guess. Now come on, you haven’t even seen our food court yet!”