Breath…

Breath…

Breath…

Breath…

Her breaths are heavy. Her eyes are barely open. Her chest rises and falls slowly. Her blood continues to stream down her stomach. She can’t take much more.

The feather is a hindrance. While it’s still embedded in her abdomen, it is impossible to properly dress the deep wound and, at the very least, slow down the bleeding. At this rate, it won’t matter that they successfully escaped the burning city, or that the monsters definitely lurking around them in the shadows haven’t attacked. The feather was a hindrance. It had to go.

There was only one problem.

"You’ve… gotta pull it out Ruby…"

"I… I don’t think I can, Yang."

The blonde sighs, whether out of pain, or frustration at Ruby’s reluctance right now, the young girl didn’t know. "Ruby… we need to get this thing out of me, or… I’m gonna bleed out…. I can’t do it myself, so… I need you to do it for me…"

"No-no-no! W-What if I mess up and end up m-making things worse?" Ruby stutters.

"You’re pulling a talon out of my stomach… That is fairly hard to mess up…"

"Yang, I don’t think this is a good idea. I-Isn’t it gonna hurt?"

"I’m sorry, who has the feather stabbed through them again…?"

"Stop joking, Yang!" She could actually see Yang recoil from her sudden outburst. Ruby’s fists are balled and her body shakes. "Oh man, this is so messed up… This shouldn’t even be happening right now…"

"…Yeah, it’s a pretty crap day… But, Ruby… That doesn’t matter right now… Your big sister’s dying over here and she’s in an unbearable amount of pain right now… So, I am begging you… please pull this goddamn thing out of me…"

Ruby looks up at her sister. "What if you can’t handle it…? What if me doing that’s going to be too much for you…?"

Yang wills her arm to lift and land on top of Ruby’s red hair. The pain of doing so was etched all over her face, but she still manages to smirk. "Give me some credit, baby sister… I think I can take a little splinter pull…"

It astounded Ruby how Yang could possibly still function like she does in a situation like this. If she was scared, she was a master at not letting it show. Ruby, on the other hand, was almost at her limit. There was very little else keeping her sane at the moment other than her wounded sister; the wounded sister currently asking her to pull a feather out of her abdomen.

Ruby looks away from Yang for a moment, thinking things over. Her eyes squeeze shut and her teeth grit. Finally she composes herself as best she can and looks to her older sister, who returns a sincere, soft smile.

"Thank you, Ruby…"

Ruby moves a bit closer to Yang and plants her eyes on the feather. It was almost completely red at this point. Blood slowly pooled from the wound and onto the ground under Yang.

She swallows and begins to reach for the-

"Wait a minute," she says, stopping herself. She takes the bottom of her tank top and tears a long piece of it off before stretching it to see how far it will go. She looks at Yang. "W…We’ll need to stop the bleeding somehow. It’s not much, but… It’ll have to do. "

Yang nods with a smile. "My baby sister’s so smart…" Ruby looks around for a moment. Her eyes land on a piece of thick bark behind her and she takes it in hand, showing Yang her find. "Please tell me that’s… not what you’re gonna use to dig this thing out…"

Ruby shakes her head. "T-This goes in your mouth."

"Why would I put that in my…?" She slowly looks down at the deep piercing feather then back up at Ruby. "Oh…"

Ruby nods with a sympathetic look. "It might help a little…?"

Yang sighs and opens her mouth. Ruby sticks the bark in and Yang’s teeth clamp down on it. The two sisters give each other an anxious look and both look down at the feather. They look up at one another.

"…You ready…?" Yang nods her head. Ruby sighs. "Good, b-because I’m not…"

Her hands slowly move to the feather and she wraps her fingers around it. Yang jolts slightly at the contact and Ruby looks at her. Yang shakes her head and motions for her to continue.

Ruby’s focus returns to the feather in hand. Sweat starts to form on her forehead and she licks her lips. Her hands are shaking uncontrollably. She squeezes tightly on the feather and gives it a good tug-

Snap!

"Son of a bitch!"

Yang just snapped the thick bark in her mouth completely in two upon Ruby’s halfhearted pull of the feather. The younger of the two jumped back upon Yang’s loud yell, falling to her backside with a fearful look. She breathes erratically as Yang grasped at her wound and writhed in pain.

Breathing hard, she manages to calm herself down a little.

"I’m sorry-I’m sorry-I’m sorry!" Ruby says, covering her mouth.

"It’s fine, it’s… God…" Yang leans back into the tree she currently rested on and closed her eyes. Ruby worked up the courage to slowly approach her sister as she simply breathed. Ruby looks down at the two halves of the bark Yang had in her mouth. Yang also notices them. "Guess those aren’t gonna help any…" Ruby looks up at Yang. Yang looks back. "We… We’ve gotta keep going… this thing isn’t coming out on it’s own…"

Ruby hesitantly nods and returns to her position beside Yang, eyes glued on the feather as if she expected the thing to leap out of Yang and attack her. She looks at her sister. "I can’t stop this time, Yang… It’s never going to come out at this rate…"

Yang nods. "Yeah… I get it… Do what you gotta do…"

Ruby takes the feather in hand. "You ready…?" Yang shakes her head, looking much less enthusiastic than before. "I know, right?"

"This is gonna suck…"

Ruby can only nod. "Yep…" She swings her leg over Yang’s lap and straddles her, placing her forehead on her sister’s chest. Yang wraps her arms around Ruby’s back. "Count it off…"

Yang swallows saliva. Ruby can actually feel her shaking now, too.

"1…"

Ruby squeezes tighter and shuts her eyes. Yang’s grip on her back tightens as well and she breathes in deep.

"2…"

Here we go…

And she pulls.

"AHHHH!!"

Yang thrashes around violently and her nails drill into Ruby’s back, drawing blood. Ruby winces in pain but focuses on the feather. She continues to pull as hard as she can as she also tries to keep Yang still.

"STOP! STOP! RUBY, OH GOD!" Yang screamed and screamed and screamed.

The more Ruby pulled the more Yang cried. Tears dripped onto Ruby’s shoulder as blood spotted her face. Yang started to whimper and continued to scream until her vocal chords came close to bursting.

Almost there.

"RUBY, PLEASE! I CAN’T DO IT! I CAN’T!"

She could not stop. Not at this point. She had to keep going. She had to keep pulling. As much as she wanted to, she could not relent in trying to get this thing out of her sister. She could not stop no matter what.

Here it comes.

Just a little more. It was coming out. Just… a little…

"GAHHH!!"

One more good pull!...

And it was over.

Everything went quite. No longer were there screams of agony, or cries and pleas for Ruby to stop. In her hand, she held the bloodied, dripping feather. Yang had gone completely silent and her arms dropped from Ruby’s back.

The red haired girl breathed rapidly, going over everything that just happened. Tears had filled her own eyes and were streaming down her face. But, she couldn’t rest yet. She snapped herself out of the stupor she was in and took up the torn shirt piece. She wraps it around her sister’s abdomen and ties it tightly. This wasn’t going to do much, but it was going to do something, she hoped.

She sits up on Yang’s lap and looks into her face. The blonde’s eyes were closed and her chest rose and fell softly. Ruby forced a smile as her tears continued to fall. "You did it Yang… I knew you could…" Her smile falls and she collapses into Yang’s chest, letting all of her sadness out.

The events of the day finally caught up to her and Ruby realized that she didn’t want to do anything else. She was fine with sitting there and rotting.

"This can’t be happening," she sobs to herself. "None of this was supposed to happen… This was Yang’s day… We were all together again… Why did this happen…?"

Why did this happen, one wonders. What grudge did fate have on the little red girl? Was she simply a plaything that was most susceptible to torment? Had she done something so wrong to deserve such unjust consequences?

It was quite the miserable turn of events no one could have seen coming…

Growl…

Her eyes slowly widen at that horrible sound. Her heart stops at this instance and her tears cease to fall. The growling begins to grow louder and multiply around her.

She appears on another building, running fast. As she speeds across building tops, her eyes scan the streets below, hoping to catch some glimpse of the cyclist. Not spotting anything, she clicks her tongue and teleports again. She also doesn’t see the white haired girl trailing her by jumping from glyph to glyph through the air.

Ruby appears again before jumping over a large gap. Landing with a roll, she rights herself to continue running-

Suddenly, Weiss drops from the sky before her, a hand held out to Ruby. Ruby’s eyes widen before she skids across the ground to stop herself. She ends up stopping right before running into Weiss’ hand. The white haired teen tosses her long side-tail over her shoulder then crosses her arms.

"And where do you think you’re going exactly?" Weiss demands.

"Oh good, you again," Ruby says sarcastically. "You just love to follow me around, don’t you?"

"Answer the question."

Ruby rolls her eyes, something she rarely finds herself doing. "I’m sorry, but did you not notice a kid just got snatched up by a guy on a bike? Please tell I’m not the only here who happened to notice that. Where the heck do you think I’m going?"

Ruby moves to walk around Weiss, but she blocks her path.

"Oh no you don’t!" Weiss commands. Ruby groans indignantly, throwing her hands up in a "what now?" manner. "This isn’t your situation to handle. You’re just a civilian. This is a job for a Huntress, not some… redheaded ruffian!"

Ruby gives Weiss a look as if her words physically assaulted her. "Did you just call me a ‘ruffian’? Who in Remnant even says something like…? You know what?" Ruby proceeds to walk right at Weiss, unflinching in her stride.

"H-Hey!" Weiss goes to grab Ruby’s shoulder, but only manages to snag a fist full of air as Ruby teleports behind her, continuing her walk across the building top. Weiss has to do a double take to realize what just happened. "Wha…?! Oh, you insufferable little brat! Get back here!"

She goes for another grab, but Ruby teleports further away, causing Weiss to trip over her own feet, catching herself before she can face plant into the ground.

"Would you stop doing that?!"

"Stop trying to grab me, then," Ruby replies. "I’m seriously gonna snap that hand right off if it touches me. What is your deal? Don’t you want to help that kid out? What if she gets hurt while we’re playing our ‘rousing game of tag’?"

Weiss stomps after Ruby. "She will be fine. I’m going to fix this. That is my job as a Huntress after all."

"You’re not even a Huntress yet."

"I’m a Huntress in training, it still counts."

Ruby turns to Weiss, pausing her stride. ”God, the more I talk to you, the more I want to deck you in the schnoz."

“That isn’t a word, and I don’t really care how you feel. All I am saying is: you have no business getting involved with this affair. We Beacon students have been given the sole duty of protecting those in need from the harms of this crumbling world. And as an up-and-coming Huntress, I plan to abide by that oath and stop any sort of crime that transpires. In other words, I fight for truth and justice. You fight to get off. Which is exactly why I have the higher authority here."

She was sick of her. Ruby had just about enough of Weiss’ know-it-all attitude and she most definitely had enough of Weiss period. So, she begins to walk toward the uppity Princess to inform her of how annoying she was.

Bang! Bang!

Gunshots.

Ruby turns around to the where the gunshots rang out. Her senses were on high alert now, her hearing at full capacity, trying to get an angle on where the sound came from exactly. Weiss looks at her curiously.

"What’s the matter with you?" she asks.

"Gunshots…" Ruby says.

"What? I didn’t hear any… H-Hey!" As she was talking, Ruby begins to run ahead.

Weiss growls under her breath. Securing her rapier back on her side, she runs after Ruby.

The redheaded girl stops at the edge of a building overlooking a street. Across it was a more warehouse looking building, multiple glass entries at the top. The building looked old and worn as if it hadn’t been used or cared for in a while. In the alleyway outside the building were black vans. Along with those, a familiar looking bike was parked as well.

Just then, Weiss catches up and stops at the edge alongside Ruby. "What are you doing?" she asks. "What’s going…? What the…?" She notices what Ruby is looking at. "Are they here?"

"Sounds like it," Ruby responds, not taking her eyes off the warehouse.

Weiss turns to Ruby, surprised. "You can actually hear what’s going on in there?”

"It’s a little muffled. But I can hear voices. Someone just shot a gun, too."

Weiss’ face warps into one of worry. "You don’t think they…"

"No. I can hear her in there struggling." She looks at Weiss. "So? What do you want to do?"

"What, you’re asking me? Since when do you care about my opinion?"

"Since you moaned and complained about it. You wanna be the ‘protector of justice’? Well here’s your chance, hero."

Weiss scowls at Ruby before giving a "hmph" and focusing her attention back on the building. She places her hand on her chin, scanning the area, taking in all of the surroundings. Her eyes move up to the building top with the multiple glass skylines. A hand drops to her sword and she draws it out.

"Okay," she says before summoning up another of her glyphs and launching herself across the gap to the warehouse rooftop. Ruby watches for a second before shaking her head. She takes a few steps back, preparing herself and then shoots off for the edge of the building. She launches off and jumps long, teleporting to take her the rest of the way. When she reappears, she lands with a roll.

Standing up straight, she dusts her jacket off, looking around for Weiss. She spots the Princess kneeling down by one of the glass skylines, looking down through it. Ruby walks over and stops next to her, joining her in spying.

More of those guys in suits were down in the building. Two of them were sitting down, looking bored as if they were waiting for something. Two more men stood by the building exit, leaning on the walls. But that wasn’t what really caught Ruby’s attention, though. A few feet away from them, the site of a corpse lay on the ground, blood pooling around his head. Ruby’s eyes widen ever so slightly.

"Well, that explains the gunshots…" she deduces. Curious to Weiss’ reaction to this, she turns to the white haired teen.

Weiss looked a bit shaken honestly. Ruby could see straight through her false bravado and see that Weiss wasn’t really taking the sight of the dead body too well.

"What’s up? You act like you’ve never seen a dude with a bullet lodged in his skull before."

Weiss snaps from her staring trance and turns to Ruby. "W-What, and I suppose you have?" Ruby just continues her stare, giving Weiss all the information she needed, evident by the look of horror on her face. "Wait… have you… actually…?"

Ruby doesn't say anything. All the answer needed. Weiss goes stiff at the silence.

"Alright..." Ruby says. She grabs the bottom of the skylight and begins to lift it open.

Weiss sees this and freaks out. "W-Wait a second, you idiot!" She quickly lunges and grabs Ruby’s shoulders before tugging her away from the glass.

"Whoa!" Ruby stumbles back. "What did I say about touching me? Did I not make myself clear?"

"What on Remnant do you think you are doing?"

"You seem to love asking obvious questions, don’t you? What do you think I’m doing? I’m gonna jump down there and get to swinging. Is that not why we chased these guys down?"

"Are you out of your mind? There’s 4 of them down there with guns, you know.”

Ruby actually wanted to scream from disbelief at what she was hearing, but quickly remembered where she was. "Did you not just see what I did back there? These guys would be a warm up for me! And there’s 5 guys actually, just to get things accurate. I can hear him in the back down there."

"You got lucky. You caught them, and us, I’ll add, by surprise and had that element on your side.”

"They shot at me! Come on, I know we don’t really see eye to eye on… anything, really, but I know you are not that stupid. You’re just trying to keep me from doing what I do best."

"Maybe I am, but that’s for a reason, you stupid girl." Weiss walks back over to the glass, Ruby following her, doing her best to keep from smacking Weiss. Both girls proceed to look into the building. "We can use this situation to our advantage. If we wait for a minute, they might relay some valuable information on what’s going on."

"What are you, some kind of detective? Since when do you do police work."

"I don’t need a badge to bring criminals like this to justice. As a Huntress, it is my duty to uphold the law and keep this fair world safe."

"You really are a broken record aren’t you? So what, you wanna just let them do their thing so you can go fill out a police form, or something?"

"I plan on waiting until I can figure out what exactly is going on around here and get to the bottom of this charade. Now, if you wouldn’t mind shutting your mouth, I would like to get back to-"

"All right, I’m all done."

Weiss and Ruby’s heads snap back to the scene below when they hear one of the men talk.

From a room toward the back of the pretty much empty warehouse, one of the goons walks toward the rest of the group, dusting himself off, rubbing his ribs.

He stops in his tracks when he sees the corpse in the middle of the floor. He looks around at his other lackeys lounging about. "The hell are you guys doing?"

"Waiting for the boss, just like he told us to," one of the sitting goons says, sounding bored.

"Yeah, I can see that." He walks over to the corpse. "I mean: why are you jackasses just sitting here looking at the goddamn body on the floor? Are you not seeing it? Because I’m seeing it just fine."

The third man cocks his head. "No, I can see it pretty well, too. Someone ought to take care of that."

"Well that’s what you lazy sacks of shit were supposed to be doing while I was taking care of business back there. Yet here I am, looking at the body still. Am I the only one seeing a problem here?"

"By the way," the second goon says, twirling his gun on the tip of his finger. "Why’d you have to shoot Ted like that anyway? Was that really necessary?"

"No," the first says. "I’m not talking to any of you until someone gets this crap cleaned up.”

The 4 other men look back and forward at one another. One of them leaning on the wall shrugs his shoulder at the two sitting down. Finally, they sigh and jump up from the crates they sat on. They each circle around the corpse, the second wincing from the sight. They both reach into their jackets and pull out a pair of black gloves, putting them on. They bend down to take the body up.

"So, like I was asking," the second goon says, grabbing the corpse’s shoulders. "Why’d you go and shoot ol’ Ted here? Did he outlive his usefulness, or something? 1-2-3!"

The two men pick up the body at the same time, each holding an end of Ted the corpse.

The first goon starts to fiddle around for something in his pocket as he talked. "Boss’ orders. Watching over that group of Fauna was Ted’s job. Boss wasn’t too happy to find out Ted let the kid escape."

The two men walk towards the back of the warehouse over to some tarp that seemed to be laid out just for this occasion. Once they reach it, they drop the body on it. The second goon wipes sweat from his brow.

Above, Weiss can be seen visibly wincing at the sight, a hand reaching up to cover her mouth. Ruby watches her, interested in her reactions. She decides to turn back to the scene at hand.

The second man turns to the first for a minute. "So, what, the boss just told you to take him out?"

"Pretty much," the first answers, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He opens the top and withdraws one, placing it in his mouth before putting the pack back. "Something about not wanting to deal with idiots who couldn’t do one simple task. The fact that the task involved keeping one little kid in check just made things all the worse for poor Ted."

He pulls a lighter out of his other pocket and ignites it. "The minute he rode in on that bike…" He lights his cigarette and puts the lighter away. The man takes a deep inhale before withdrawing it and blowing smoke from his mouth. "Pow… That was that. No more Ted."

"God…" Weiss says low. " How could these people stand doing this kind of thing…?"

Ruby’s gaze dims. Her hand unconsciously convulses.

The two goons begin to roll Ted up in the tarp.

"Damn," the second says. "Hell of a way to go, I’ll say that much."

"Well, that’s what you get for screwing up one friggin’ thing as stupid as that," the first replies. "Though I can see how that little brat could be a handful." As he said that last part, he rubs his ribs again.

The two men slide the tarp-clad corpse to the wall. The third goon speaks up. "Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that. The little girl do that to you?"

The first growls. "Freakin’ kid got a pretty good kick on me when I was trying to tie her up. I think she actually left a damn bruise. Shit hurts."

The third snorts. "I hope you didn’t just take that lying down."

"Like hell I did. Gave the mutt a left hook right in the eye. She went down like a bag of bricks, even started crying. Serves her right for being so hardheaded. She pulls that crap again and I’m gonna break her little jaw."

"Whoa, calm down, man," the second says. "She’s still a kid. Ease up a little, will ya’?"

"Ford, shut yer’ stakin’ mouth. If I have to hear that innocent bull crap from you anymore, I’m gonna break that kid’s jaw and yours while I’m at it. That ‘kid’ in there is a Fauna anyway. Freakin’ animal needed some obedience lessons." He takes another drag of his cigarette and looks at his watch. He groans. "Speak of the devil, I need to get back to it. I’ve gotta get the mutt talking before the boss shows up. Finish cleaning up that blood before I get back. I think there’s some bleach in one of the vans. Back seat."

"Got it," the third says.

"Hey, man, just take it easy, will ya’?" the second asks. "We still need her alive, you know."

The first looks at the second. "You mind your own damn business and get back to work. That blood ain’t gonna clean itself. I’m gonna do whatever the hell I have to if it means getting the Fauna to cooperate. Go on! Get to it!" With that, he walks to the room toward the back and enters, slamming the door behind himself.

The second, out of spite, flips the bird the first’s way before following after the third.

"Who are these people…?" Weiss asks. Suddenly, the glass starts to open slightly. Weiss is brought out of her thoughts when she sees Ruby trying to open the glass. "Stop! What are you-"

"Shut up," Ruby cuts Weiss off. "I’ve heard enough."

Weiss grits her teeth. "I am seriously getting tired of you." She goes to grab Ruby once more. However, this time, Ruby’s hand shoots out and grabs the white haired girl’s wrist, catching her off guard. "Ow! S-Stop it! Let me go!"

Ruby glares at her. "I gave you fair warning, Princess. You should have listened the first time." She squeezes down on Weiss’ wrist harder.

"Stop! You’re hurting me!"

"Why are so adamant about letting me go down there? Has what we’ve just heard not been enough of a reason to act? You know, for some crusader of good, you sure don’t act the part."

"U-Unhand me this instance! You’re hurting my wrist!" Ruby finally listens and shoves Weiss away, the white haired teen tending to her wrist. "Stop trying to act on your own. I already told you-"

"Yes, I know, this isn’t a job for some ‘red headed ruffian’, I got the memo. If that’s the case, then why don’t you do something about this?"

"I am doing something. They are handing out valuable information right now and I do not plan on wasting this opportunity."

"Forget the opportunity. They are torturing a little girl down there. Isn’t that more important than intel right now?"

"Yes, a little girl who happens to also be apart of the White Fang."

Ruby had to bite her tongue and replay that last thing over in her head. She starts to slowly piece things together. "…No. You... You are not serious right now. Is that…? Is that really what this is all about? So, because she’s part of some stupid group, that means she doesn’t deserve your help?"

"That is not my reason for not going down there. I simply want to absorb as much detail as I can before proceeding on with extreme measures. That being said, that child has still allied herself with a group of killers and monsters who deserve as much retribution as those thugs down there. The fact is, that ‘little girl’ has made her decision, and if this is the price she pays, well, then justice is served."

Ruby backs away, shaking her head in disbelief at what she just heard. "You… You can’t be serious… I’m no moral compass, but even I know that is not justice. She’s just a kid…"

"A kid who happens to be just as bad as a grown woman or man."

"You don’t know that…"

"I do. All of them, every single member of the White Fang deserves to be behind bars, or worse. Age means nothing when it comes to that. A criminal is a criminal, human or Fauna. That’s all there is to it."

Ruby has nothing to say. Her hand convulses under her long sleeve. Her body can be seen shaking a little bit. She turns away, walking a few feet across the rooftop. As Weiss watched, she kept her arms crossed, doing her best to stand her ground on the subject matter. However, she felt a sort of… unease in her stomach. For some reason, the air around her grow more dense; heavier.

She waited for a response from the hood wearing girl. By now, she would have gotten a retort of some sort. However, Ruby stayed turned away, making no signs of movement. But that soon changed when Ruby finally turn around and looked into Weiss’ eyes

She gives the Huntress in training a darkened gaze. "…Fine," she says. "You win, Weiss… Let’s do it your way…"

Weiss gives Ruby a suspicious look. "What, you’re just… going to listen to me now?"

"I’ll do you one better. I’ll help you. Whatever you’re gonna do, I’ll help you."

"Why would you want to help? This has nothing to even do with you. You could just turn your back and be done with this."

"Oh, I know that Weiss. And, honestly, if those guys hadn’t shot me before, I would have ran then. But… to tell you the truth, Weiss… you were right about me. I didn’t fight for some kind of justice like you. I didn’t follow that bike here to uphold some oath of duty. I just had some anger that needed some release and these guys gave me an excuse to get some of it off my chest. Just like Cardin, and just like you…"

Sweat rolls down Weiss’ face.

"But no… not anymore… See, now I’m just curious. I honestly want to see how this plays out. I want to see what happens when we reach the end of this little adventure. I’m too curious to walk away now… So yeah, I could just leave… But I’m not going to…" Then, a small smile spreads across Ruby’s lips. A smile that seemed almost out of place. A dark, piercing, empty smile. "So… What’re you gonna do next, Princess…?"

Weiss wanted to answer, to retort, but… she found her voice caught in her throat. She closes her mouth, the two girls looking each other in the eye, Weiss fighting the urge to look away.

Ruby shrugs her shoulders. "Guess we’ll just… keep waiting then?"

With that, she walks back over to the window pane and sits on the ground crossed legged. For a moment, Weiss can only stand there, frozen. The past conversation replays over and over in her head and she finds her skull pounding out of nowhere. Not knowing what to make of the conversation, she hesitantly walks back over to join Ruby in watching inside to warehouse. However, the entire time, her eyes never left the cross-legged redhead.

"Please… Hold on a minute, Yang."

The blonde lifts a brow at the black haired woman across from her. "You okay?"

She nods, holding her head, eyes closed. "Yes, I’ll… I’ll be fine. I just need a break from this story, if you don’t mind…"

Yang leans forward, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her hand. "No, by all means. This is starting to get to me a little, too. Could really use some more of that awesome tea of yours, though. Bet that’d take the edge off."

Blake smiles softly. "Yes, I think that would help. You can come help me make it if you want."

Yang chuckles. "Fair warning: I’m not the best person to be in the kitchen. Unlike her rack, I didn’t inherit my mom’s cooking skills."

"I question why you had to bring up your mother’s… ‘rack’, but never the less. Come on, I’ll teach you a thing or two about tea making."

Yang decides to give in and shrugs her shoulders. The two women rise from their seats and head for the door to the room they occupied. The blonde follows Blake around the staircase directly in front of the house entrance, seeing two extra rooms behind it; a bathroom and kitchen area. They take the door on the left and find themselves in Blake’s surprisingly spacious kitchen.

Yang was honestly surprised by the quality, looking around with an impressed whistle. "You know, I’m just now realizing how legit your place is. Got a nice living space here."

"Why thank you," Blake says, standing over the sink, running some water into the teakettle. "It’s modest at best. I do what I can."

"Modest, huh? Well, that’s a word for it. What the hell do you do to afford a place like this?"

Blake places the top back on the kettle once it’s filled up. "Well, actually, I have two separate jobs. Four days a week, I work down at the coffee shop I happened to have met Ruby at."

"You working in a coffee shop? Ain’t that somethin’.”

Blake chuckles, glancing back at Yang. "What? Hard to imagine?"

"Just didn’t expect you to have such a… mundane day job is all."

"Heh… Well, believe it or not, I’m not some crusader in the night. I’ll leave that to the other vigilantes in tights, thank you very much. Other than the coffee shop, I like to do some freelance writing. You know, magazine articles, short stories, all under an anonymous shroud."

"Not a fan of the spotlight, huh?"

"I like to stay in shadows when I can. You know, this house actually wasn’t mine originally. I… had a friend who owned this place before me."

"Really? Well where is this friend of yours?"

Blake stops what she’s doing for a moment. Yang notices Blake’s freeze and looks over curiously at her. The black haired woman sighs. "…He’s… gone… He left this house in my name before…"

Yang’s eyes widen. "Oh… Wow, Blake, that’s… that’s a pretty tough deal… I’m sorry to hear that…"

"No. No, it’s fine. I’ve made my peace with that fact years ago. Believe me, I’ve moved on. I’m just thankful for where I am today, you know?"

Yang nods her head, a small grin on her lips. "I can relate."

"I’m sure you can…" With that, Blake walks over to her stove and turns it up, placing the kettle on top of it.

"Thought you said you were gonna teach me a thing or two about tea making."

Blake turns to Yang, leaning on the counter behind her. "Yes, Yang, because boiling water is so difficult. Such an art cannot be simply taught. It is a sacred tradition passed down to only the most prestigious of families."

"O~kay, don’t be a dick."

"Making tea really isn’t that hard, Yang. You just have to know how to do it. Now reach up to that cupboard above you and hand me the jar inside."

Yang follows the direction Blake pointed in and looks above herself, seeing the cupboard in question. "You mean this one?" Yang jokes.

Blake rolls her eyes. "No, Yang, the other cupboard right above you. You know, the one that isn’t the one right above you."

"Oo, aren’t you the snarky one?"

She backs away from the counter she leaned on and reaches up, grabbing the handle and opening the door. She easily spots the jar and goes to grab it before stopping short at noticing a separate jar.

"What’s the matter?" Blake asks.

Yang grabs the jar that caught her attention and pulls it down. Reading the name, her eyes widen. "Oolong tea…"

"Oh, I forgot I had that. It was a gift from someone down at the coffee shop I go to. Truthfully, I’m not a fan of the taste, so I never really use it. Do you like that flavor?"

"Yeah… Well, I like the smell mostly. I remember when I was a kid, my mom…"

She drifts off at the thought of her mother. Blake is quick to notice, standing up straight. Yang looks down at the jar of tea in her hands, a smile forming on her lips.

"…My mom would make it on Saturday every week…just that one, and only for us two. It was our ‘special tea’. She would whip up a pot of it in the morning and I would wake up and smell it. I would head straight for the kitchen. She’d be standing there every time… Then she’d turn towards me and smile like she was expecting me… like she was just as excited for our little teatime as I was. We’d take our drinks to the dining room table, then just… talk…"

Blake had now given her undivided attention to Yang, letting her ramble on.

Yang chuckled. "We never discussed anything in particular, we just… jabbered on and on about anything for hours. Sometimes our conversations would be random and joking, sometimes they’d be little teaching sessions. Sometimes, though, they’d get serious, emotional even. If I had anything on my mind, or even if she had something on hers, that was the time to put it on the table. It’s strange, I can’t remember a time she ever talked down to me like a lot of adults do to kids. She talked to me like I was just another person who she happened to be tight with. She always saw me as someone just as smart as anyone else in Remnant… Guess that’s why I liked talking to her so much…"

She fiddles with the jar of tea in her hand. "Anything we talked about stayed between me and her. It was just mother to daughter time. That was something that went on for almost all my life, consistently… And then I… I left for Beacon…"

Blake was curious about that last line. "…Yang you mentioned that you returned home after two whole years away. That implies you didn’t visit not once during that time? Why wouldn’t you want to see your family for that long?"

Yang’s purple eyes dim. "It’s… It’s complicated, Blake… That’s a story for another time…"

Blake looks to the floor then back at Yang. "Hand me that, will you?" Yang turns and gives the black haired woman a curious look. "You’re my guest. I figure it’s the least I can do."

The blonde smiles, walking over the Blake, handing her the jar. "Thanks."

"Of course." Blake turns back to the kettle and lifts the top, pouring just the right amount of tea in. She takes up a spoon and stirs the drink. "Yang, I have a question about your story that’s been bothering me."

"Shoot."

"If I’m not mistaken, aren’t there barriers around certain cities throughout Remnant that are meant to protect people from the threat of the Grimm?"

Yang nods. "Yeah. Places like Vale city and Patch have them. Why?"

"How did the massacre happen? Didn’t the entire island have a barrier around it? How were the Grimm able to break through and slaughter everyone?"

The blonde sighs, running a hand through her hair. "Ain’t that the question of the day, kitty cat. No one actually knows. Ozpin and his people have been trying to figure that one out for a while now, but haven’t got a clue. Although…"

Blake looks at Yang. "What?"

"You know that giant flying Grimm that I mentioned? Here’s the weird part about that: after it rained down Hell on us, it just… left. It happened so fast I almost didn’t believe it was even there. Of course the feather in my side said otherwise. Ozpin thinks whatever that thing was had something to do with everything that happened."

"A giant flying Grimm… I’ve never heard of such a thing before."

"Right now, all of the kingdoms are on the look out for it. Atlas, Vacuo, Mistral: everyone’s on red alert, yet no one’s seen it since that day. Personally, I hope we never find it."

"Why is that? Wouldn’t it be better if such a threat was taken care of?"

"Of course it’d be. I just..."

Blake notices Yang rub the side of her stomach.

"It’s frightening to think such a thing is possible," Blake says. "Cities like this have always been regarded as the safest locations in the world. To think that even these places would be just as dangerous as the outside…"

"I bet the elders who put up the shields all those years ago wouldn’t be too happy about that. But, I guess that’s what we Huntsman are here for, huh?"

This catches Blake off guard. "Wait… Yang, are you a full fledged Huntress?"

Yang snorts. "Yeah, actually. Just became one last year. Yang Xiao Long: twenty one years old, official Huntress, graduated from Beacon Academy."

"Well, I’ll be… How did you graduate so soon? Haven’t you technically only been in school for two years?"

Yang sticks up three fingers. "Three years, actually. After Ruby and I made it here, I took a year off, then reenrolled last year. I exceeded every expectation met and was awarded the opportunity to join the Junior Elite Huntress Society. So, I guess, Junior Huntress would be a more fitting title."

"But a Huntress nevertheless."

"Yup."

"Well… Congratulations, then. Ruby failed to mention that."

"Probably because she doesn’t really care all that much. In fact, she wasn’t that happy to hear I became a Huntress. The night I told her, she yelled my ass out the apartment. The next day, she was apologizing and crying her eyes out, typical Ruby style."

"She really didn’t want you to be a Huntress, I see. Didn’t you say she wanted to enroll in Beacon herself before…" She stops short of her question when the realization hits her. "Never mind…"

The two women stand in silence for a moment, Yang with her arms crossed, Blake leaning on the countertop next to the kettle on the stove, the kettle that was now making a loud whistling noise. Blake, lost in thought doesn’t notice. Yang looks up, expecting her to do something.

"Yo," Yang calls out to get Blake’s attention. However, she doesn’t answer. "Hey!" Still nothing. Sighing, Yang walks over to the stove. She takes the kettle in hand and moves it off of the hot stovetop. As she does this, Blake finally awakens from her trance and snaps to see Yang beside her.

"Oh, I… I’m sor-" Blake tries to apologize.

"Don’t worry about it," Yang cuts her off, reaching around Blake to get the two cups on the counter.

"I-I didn’t hear the tea. It could have-"

"Not what I meant." Yang begins to pour the tea into the cups. She places the kettle down and takes the two cups in hand. She turns, leaning on the counter next to Blake, handing the woman one of the cups. Blake takes it, holding it with both hands, waiting for it to cool off a little. Yang sips from her beverage. "She’s gonna be all right. It’ll just take a little more time… that’s all."

Yang takes another sip from her cup. Blake looks down at her drink, watching it swirl softly, steam rising.

"I hope you’re right, Yang…" she says quietly.

They hadn’t made a move in some time. Four of the men continued to lounge about, talking about nothing too important. Ever since the apparent head goon retreated to the back where the Fauna child was being held, he hadn’t remerged. No doubt he was still "working on" the girl.

Weiss sat next to the glass skyline, peering into the warehouse. She was careful to not accidentally be seen by any of the men. If their line of sight so much as brushed past the ceiling, she would move back to avoid any chance of being spotted. Her legs were brought up to her chest, arms tangled around them. She fiddled with the long side braid that fell over her shoulder unconsciously.

While she tried her best to stay focused on the scene below, her thoughts kept wondering back to the redhead that accompanied her on the rooftop. Without even realizing it most of the time, she would turn around ever so slightly to peek at the teenager hanging back, leaning on an air-conditioning unit with her legs to her own chest, head buried in them.

Weiss clears her throat. "Hey, you. I have a question." She waits for a response, but doesn’t receive one. She groans. "Are you listening over there? I said-"

"I can hear her screaming, you know." Weiss turns to Ruby. Ruby doesn’t look at her. "The kid… I can hear her crying loud and clear. That man keeps hitting her. Over… and over… and over…"

Weiss found her throat tightening, despite her efforts to shake Ruby’s words off as rambling. She asks her question. "While we’re sitting here, I want to know about your powers."

Ruby sighs. "What powers?"

"You’re joking right? Your powers? You’re able to not only teleport in and out of reality on a whim, but you can also, apparently, come back from the dead after taking multiple fatal blows. How are you able to do that? Are those attributes of your Semblance, or something?"

"Semblance?"

"Don’t play dumb. You know, your semblance? The manifestation of one’s aura? It’s the ability to use aura as a means to awaken a power significant to the user of that aura. I have my glyphs, Pyrrha has-"

"I know what a Semblance is."

"Then why are you acting like you don’t? Are those powers of yours part of your-"

"You’re not hearing me right. What are you talking about Semblance for? I don’t have one of those."

This catches Weiss completely off guard, her eyes widening. "W-What?"

Ruby looks up at Weiss. "I don’t possess a Semblance. I never have and I never will. There is not a single drop of aura in my veins."

Weiss had completely lost her grasp on the conversation by this point. Her mind scrambled to come up with a plausible explanation for what Ruby was saying. She looks up at the red haired girl.

"T-That isn’t possible," Weiss says. "Every single living person in this world has even a small trace of aura within themselves."

"Well, then I guess mine is really deep within, because I don’t have any."

"Then how are you able to-"

"I just can. I don’t know the science, Princess, I just woke up one day and found out a bullet to the head doesn’t kill me, and that I could teleport across town. Your guess is just about as good as mine on this."

"Ugh!" Weiss groans in frustration, crossing her arms over her chest. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I have a question for you: why are you so intent on figuring me out? I promise you, I'm not nearly as interesting as you think I am."

"It's imperative if I'm to get a good nights rest. You go against every rule that has been set in place for years now. It's almost vexing in a way."

Ruby snorts. "Oh, so you're one of those kinds of people."

Weiss lifts a brow. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You're a rule follower: the kind of girl that thinks she knows everything about anything. The kind of girl that has a big brain, but no brawn to show for it. The only thing you've got is that text book knowledge, and what is that gonna do for you in the real world?"

"Excuse me? I'll have you know I've been training to be a Huntress since my childhood days. I spared no expense in my aspirations to be a strong, wise, noble protector. And for the record, I do know everything there is about being a Huntress. Unlike some people."

Ruby throws her hands up. "Whoa, slow your roll, cowgirl. I have no intention of joining your little band of misfits. I'm just saying, I don't really see someone like you making it too far as a Hunter is all. Wouldn't want our fair Princess getting hurt, would we?"

"I can hold my own as a warrior just fine, thank you very much. I would appreciate it if you refrained from making your unbacked claims of my weakness, you… child!" She rubs her head. "And why on Remnant do you keep calling me ‘Princess’?"

"Well, that is what you are, isn't it?"

Weiss looked visibly surprised by Ruby's answer. "W-Wha-"

"Weiss Schnee: heir to the throne of the Schnee dynasty, and next in line to be the queen. That about sum it up?"

Weiss stares wide eyed at Ruby, her mouth moving, mind trying to form an answer. "Well… I-"

"For the record, I’m actually not as dumb as I seem to look. I’m not the most connected to current events, but I know my fair share of history. The moment I saw you, I knew who you were."

"T-Then why are you only bringing my role as Princess up now?"

"Because I didn’t and still could not care less. All you are to me is a loud, prissy, very annoying girl who I think is way in over her head if she thinks she can be a Huntress. Jaune has a better chance than you, and I can tell he’d get mauled if he went head to head with a Grimm. You? I’m actually scared for you."

Weiss, in an instant, had gone from shocked to inflated, her fists balling, back straightening. She grits her teeth and begins to stomp toward Ruby.

Ruby could actually feel a smirk force itself on her lips as she watched the white haired Princess approach. It was strange how much she was enjoying this. Was this revenge for Weiss’ constant barrage of harassment, or was this just her way of letting off steam; steam that had been pent up for days now?

Either way, she was looking forward to this, evident by her standing to her feet to meet Weiss. The two girls were now face to face, Ruby slightly taller than Weiss, the latter having to tilt her head slightly to look up at the former.

This was a different kind of anger than the kind Ruby had seen before. Before, Weiss getting angry seemed more like a brat throwing a temper tantrum, one Ruby could ignore easily. However, this time, Weiss actually looked about ready to fight. Her brow was furrowed into a dangerous looking glare. Ruby could swear her eyes were actually glowing. Her hand was slowly inching toward the sword on her waist. Ruby was waiting for it, longing for an excuse.

"I’m better than you…"

Ruby lifts a brow questioningly at Weiss’ statement, waiting for her to continue.

"I became a Huntress for the simple fact that I believe I can make a change in this world. I believe there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel we have been walking down since the beginning of our birth. I fight for a future that we, the good of this world, deserve. I have trained tooth and nail for the chance to fight along side my fellow comrades in a battle that needs to be won if we are to ever live in peace without the fear of constant darkness looming over our heads. Through rigorous studying, blood and sweat driven physical training, and unfaltering confidence, I was accepted to the prestigious school of Beacon because I showed the potential of a true Huntress…"

Ruby said nothing, fully focused on Weiss’ words.

"You may think I’m just some pampered rich girl who’d rather be ‘painting her nails’ than making a difference, but I’ll have you know, even if I was, I’d still be leagues better than you: some cynical, insane, blood knight who gets off on the thrill of combat. Some child who seeks out the chance to fight at every given opportunity. So while you mock me for still believing in the prospect of justice and hope, I will actually be slaying all that dares to try and take away our light. You are nothing compared to me…"

Silence.

Silver eyes clash with blue as the two teens stare each other down. A soft breeze blows by Ruby’s red cloak-like jacket moving with the wind, along with her blood red hair and Weiss snow white locks.

Ruby begins to smile. "Justice and hope… Heh… Yeah, good luck with that. Let’s see how long you last against a Grimm with that fancy ‘rigorous studying’ and ‘unfaltering confidence’. I’m sure that’ll change the world." She turns her back to Weiss, chuckling to herself, not helping to ease the young Princess’ anger.

"Why are you so jaded…?" Weiss asks. Ruby stops her walk, still not turning to Weiss. "How could you not believe in a better future. Why must you mock the name of the Hunter…?"

Ruby’s smile drops, her head following suit. "…Because fairy tales aren’t real, Weiss… Happily-ever-after doesn’t exist… You’re gonna find that out the hard way… And to be honest with you…" She slowly turns to the white head, a somber look on her face. Weiss is caught very much off guard by this as her angered expression subsides, being replaced by one of curious concern. "…I really don’t want you to… No matter how much I antagonize you… nobody deserves to go through that… And I really don’t think you’ll make it through that moment…"

She ponders over Ruby’s words for only a moment, a noticeable flash of thought passing over her face. She hardens herself and glares back at Ruby. "We’ll see about that…"

Ruby’s eyes dampen. "Yeah… we will…" Suddenly, she perks up as a sound reaches her ears. Weiss is quick to catch it as well. "Another van."

Weiss nods. "That must be the leader."

Not wasting any time, Weiss and Ruby run back to the glass skyline and pear down through it. At that moment, the two doors to the warehouse burst open and two more men in suits walk in, guns on their sides. Behind them, a third figure strolls in, much less stiff than the armed goons, much more flamboyantly, really.

In his black gloved hand, he twirls a metallic black and red cane, whistling a very out of place, upbeat tune. His other hand rests in the pocket of his white, long sleeved shirt with the collar popped up. On top of his orange head of hair, a black and red top hat sits. In his mouth, he smoked on a dimly lit cigar.

One of the sitting goons stands up and walks forward. "Hey. Sup’ boss?"

Taking his hand out of his pocket, the man reaches up and withdraws the cigar in his mouth, blowing smoke in the goon’s face, causing him to cough from the secondhand smoke.

"Well, I see you fellows are hard at work." All of the other goons look awkwardly at one another. "So happy to see my money is being well spent on you braindead dickheads. Really assures me of my time not being wasted keeping you imbeciles alive."

The goon that got smoke in his face clears his throat and try to speak. "B-Boss, we-"

"Ah-bu-bu," the man shushes, holding up a hand. "I heard enough excuses from Ted for a life time, so I am really not in the mood for a million more." He holds out his cigar to the goon before him, shaking it expectantly.

The goon realizes what was being asked of him and he reaches into his pocket hurriedly, taking out a lighter. He ignites it and holds it up to the man’s cigar, giving it a better flame. The boss takes a whiff and blows the smoke into the goon’s face once again.

"By the way," he continues. "Did you take care of that screw up like I requested?"

"Uhh…" the goon says, looking behind him at the tarp covered corpse. The boss follows his line of sight before rolling his eyes.

"Ugh, so messy. Could you not have done that a bit more smoothly, like, say, choking him out, stabbing him in the chest, feed him greasy fast food, clogging up his arteries, something less… this? Did you really have to shoot him?"

The goon scratches his head. "We… used a silencer."

The boss puts a hand on his temple, rubbing it. "You are very good at missing the point, I can attest to that… Okay, where’s the little Fauna girl? Is she talking yet?"

The goon points to the room toward the back of the warehouse. "Frank’s got her in the back. He’s still ‘working’ on her."

The boss lifts a brow. "Can you not just say he’s beating the piss out of her? Why do you make it sound like something else?"

"…Sound like what, sir?"

"We’ve got a genius here, folks… Would you just go tell him to get out here? And bring the brat, too. I wanna see her."

"Yes sir!"

With that, the goon runs off to retrieve the girl and Frank. Above, Ruby and Weiss give each other a look.

"Who is that?" Ruby asks.

"Don’t know," Weiss replies. "But whoever he is, it looks like he’s running things around here…"

Below, the goon runs back out, Frank following, one hand rubbing his side, another holding a chain. At the end of the chain, the young child is attached, being dragged out by the neck as if the chain were a collar. Weiss flinches at the sight of her, Ruby’s eyes narrowing.

She was in horrible shape. Her left eye was blackened, barely open, blood and tears streaming out of it. Her whole body was covered in bruises, clothes torn in various places. She walked with a heavy limp. She looked as if she had to put every bit of strength in her into simply moving. Her eyes stayed on the floor as she was lead out to the boss.

"Good lord, Frank," the man says, eyes wide. "Dealing with some pent of frustrations are we?" Frank grumbles under his breath, still rubbing his side. The boss notices this. "The hell happened to you?"

Franks shakes his head. "Don’t worry about it boss, it’s nothing."

The man shrugs his shoulders. He eyes the little girl who’s gaze remained on the floor, avoiding his look. He noticed she was trembling slightly. The boss begins to walk toward her.

"She talk yet?" he asks Frank.

The goon shakes his head. "Damn girl’s stubborn, that’s for sure. Just can’t get her to open her trap." The man bends down, getting leveled with the child. She still avoids his gaze. "Sorry, boss, I’ve tried everything on her, but she just won’t yap."

The orange haired man withdraws his cigar, blowing smoke from his nose. He drops it to the ground and uses his cane to stamp it out.

"No, you did exactly what you were supposed to. I can take it from here."

After that, he says nothing for a moment. He continued to stare at the child, bent down, straight faced as if he were waiting for something. His face held no emotion. There was no anger, frustration, aggravation; nothing. He simply looked at the child calmly. She, on the other hand, kept her eyes on the ground, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Melody…" he says softly. For but a moment, she makes a flinching movement, still not looking up at the man. "Melody, look at me… Come on Melody… Just look at me… Just a little… I’m not gonna hurt you… You know I wouldn’t do that…"

She trembled more violently now. Here eyes flailed about in their sockets, sweat rolled down her body.

"Melody… Look at me…"

In a quick, almost missed instant, Melody’s eyes look up into the man’s. That was all he needed, and a small smile appeared on his lips.

"You know why we had to do this, don’t you? You broke the rules. And we both know what happens when you break the rules, don’t we?" She says nothing. "Your family; they made you do this, didn’t they? A good girl like you would never do anything to make me angry. What did I say about listening to anyone but me? You can’t trust anyone, Melody, not even them. Running off like you did; that was very irresponsible of you. I am very disappointed…"

Her hands were balled now. In her eyes, tears began to form on the rims.

"Oh, don’t do that. Come on now, it’s okay. We all make mistakes, it’s nothing to fret over. That’s why we had to punish you. But’s it’s all going to be okay now… That is… if you tell us where the rest of your family is hiding."

She flinches.

"Now, I know what you’re thinking, and you don’t need to worry. We’re not going to kill them. In fact I would hope to avoid any of that at all cost. And that’s why I need you to tell me where they are, Melody. If you tell me, we’ll bring you and all of them back home, alive and well. Of course, they will be punished for breaking the rules, but it won’t be so bad. You all will have each other again and things will go back to normal just like before… But Melody…"

All of the sudden, his voice grows darker, causing Melody to slightly jump from such a jarring transition in demeanor. He brings up his cane, examining the tip.

"If you don’t tell me where your family is hiding… and I end up finding them on my own…" he grips his cane with a death hold. "Well… you don’t want me finding them on my own…"

Her head snaps up, eyes wide, tears pouring. "I… I… I’m…"

"Now, now, calm down, Melody. You can avoid all of this. You can still save them. All you have to do is tell me where they are. And if you do, I swear on my life that I will spare you all. We’ll all go home and forget any of this ever happened. But if this ever were to happen again…" he leans in closer. "…I won’t be so generous next time… Is that understood?"

Tears still streaming, she hiccups, her small body shaking rapidly. Slowly, she nods her head, biting her lip.

The man smiles. "Good. That’s a very good girl. Now, where are they, Melody?"

She looks up and opens her mouth to answer. "Ah… Ah… Ah…" However, she can’t seem to speak. No matter how hard she tries, she cannot say what she wanted.

The man lifts a brow, then looks up at Frank. "What’s wrong with her?"

Franks scratches his chin. "Oh yeah, sorry, boss, forgot to mention. I might have busted her voice box back there. Kid can’t really speak right now."

The man gives Frank a look as if he wanted to smack him in the face. "Well, that defeats the purpose of interrogating her, don’t you think, Frank? Goddamn it, you are the worst hired help. For Christ’s sake…" he reaches in a pocket and pulls out a pen. "Frank, make yourself useful and get me some paper. "

"Oh, hang on. Ford? You still carry that notepad on you?"

On one of the crates, one of the goons, Ford, stands up and jogs over, pulling a notepad from his suit pocket. He hands it to the boss, who waited for it to hit his palm. Clicking the pen, he places both objects in Melody’s hands.

"Alright, go on, kid," the man says. "Where are the rest of your family hiding?"

Melody slowly begins to write on the notepad. Above, Ruby and Weiss’ eyes were wide.

"Crap, I can’t see what she’s writing," Ruby says. "We won’t know where they’re going. Weiss?"

Weiss does nothing. She continues to stare down at the scene below, focused on what was happening.

"Weiss! What are we doing? Come on, give me something. Weiss!"

She still says nothing, biding her time.

Below, Melody has finished writing on the notepad. She shakily hands it back to the boss, who takes it up, reading what has been jotted down. Nodding his head, he stands up and looks around at the warehouse full of suited goons.

"Alright, we are a go! You-" he throws the notepad to one of the goons behind him. "You and two other bozos take the kid and ride down to where her kin are hiding. Take care of the situation. I’m gonna go ahead and bounce out. The rest of you, get all of this cleaned up and meet me back at HQ. Let’s move it, people, we’ve got things to do!"

With that command, the men begin to scramble about. Two of them run over to the corpse by the wall and begin to carry it over to the door. The boss turns to exit.

Ruby’s teeth are grit. She turns to Weiss and yells, "Weiss!"

Weiss turns to Ruby and says, "Let’s go!"

"Took you long enough!"

She brings her fist back and smashes through the glass. From below, all eyes are on her now.

The boss grits his teeth. "Oh, what the hell is this?!" The man looks around at the staring goons, rolling his eyes. "My god, I swear you’re all braindead! Waste her!"

The goons take out their guns and begin to shoot upward. Weiss’ eyes widen and she rolls out of the way. Ruby teleports from site, back and away from the shattered skyline. After reappearing, she quickly runs back and dives down into the warehouse, straight down into the oncoming bullets, teleporting to dodge them.

"Is she friggin’ teleporting?!" the boss exclaims in disbelief.

One last teleport and she appears with her arm around a goon’s neck.

"HRAHH!!" Yelling, she throws him across the room at another man, causing him to duck under his oncoming comrade and fire off more rounds. Ruby rolls to side then proceeds into a run. She teleports and appears closer to the shooting goon. She teleports one more time and appears with a punch to the stomach, causing him to keel over. Quickly, she rolls over his back and takes his neck in a choke hold, kicking the back of his leg to make him crumble to her level.

The other goons all have their guns pointing but dare not shoot in fear of hitting their comrade. Ruby looks around the room at all of the enemies. Her eyes dart up to see that Weiss has her sword drawn. She jumps down through the skyline and descends to the floor. She summons one of her glyphs to slow her descent before flipping off. Just as the other men notice her, she twists through the air and slashes one of their hands, disarming him. She summons another glyph and shoots off past the man, slashing him at the same time, making him fall to the ground.

Her head turns to the left to see another goon about to squeeze his trigger. Just as he does, she begins to continuously backflip, dodging the bullets. Too bad for him, he runs out of bullets, his gun making a loud clicking sound. With a handless flip through the air, she twirls twice and throws her sword at the enemy, it impacting his hand, throwing the gun to the side.

Weiss lands on all fours and summons another glyph, preparing to shoot off at the disarmed goon.

"ARGH!" However, she finds her neck beings strangled by one of the men behind her, lifting her off her feet. She struggles to break loose, the man’s grip insanely tight.

The boss growls under his breath. "Okay, screw this. Time to head out, boys! Let’s move!"

Ruby’s eyes widen as she hears the man. She sees the goon Weiss attacked stagger to his feet and go over to where the boss and the two other goons holding the corpse were. The orange haired man grabs the approaching goon’s shirt, pulling him close. "You: get me out of here. You two," he addresses the corpse carrying men. "Throw that in our van, then take the kid, take the other van and take care of the rest. Don’t worry about the brats. Go!"

With that, the five begin to run through the exit, the boss pulling on Melody’s chain to get her to follow.

"Crap…" Ruby says, tempted to follow. She then looks back at Weiss, seeing her getting choked out. One of the goons had a knife drawn, trying to get a good stab on her as his partner attempted to hold her still. Ruby looked between the boss and Weiss and closed her eyes, tempted to curse. Opening them, she takes the head of the man she held hostage and slams it into the wall next to her, knocking him out cold.

Quickly, she turns to Weiss and teleports out of sight.

"Hold her still!" the knife wielding man says.

"I’m trying!" the goon choking Weiss says through grit teeth, trying his best to get the flailing girl to hold still.

Just then, Ruby appears behind the knife wielder and grabs his weapon hand, bending it behind his back, causing him to yell out and drop the knife. Out of surprise by Ruby’s appearance, the man holding Weiss loses his grip ever so slightly, allowing the Princess to slam the back of her head into his nose, knocking him off of her.

Ruby twists her guy around and kicks him in chest, before jumping off a wall and sending a power house kick to his face, making him twist an fall to the ground, done for. She looks to the man Weiss hit and yells, "Get down!" to her. Weiss looks to see Ruby running right at her and bends low. Ruby uses her position as a launch pad and jumps over Weiss, gliding through the air at the goon, sending a punch to his face, knocking him out.

Ruby stands up straight-

Bang!

"Ah!"

From behind, Ruby is shot in the back by the last remaining goon, who had his gun pointed. Weiss turns and glares at him. She bends down, a glyph forming under her feet. She darts at him, he pointing and shooting at her. She maneuvers around each shoot, then launches herself over him. Landing behind his back, she hastily grabs her sword and slashes him in the back, making him falls to his knees, then to the ground.

She quickly turns to look at Ruby, who was bent over, teeth grit. Weiss runs over, placing her rapier back on her hip. When she reaches the redhead, she can see some sort of energy rising from where she got shot like smoke. The wound closes up completely. The hole in her clothes, however, remains.

"I thought bullets didn’t affect you," Weiss says, noticing the look of pain on Ruby’s face.

Ruby turns to her. "They still hurt like a bi… heck…" She stands to her feet, flexing her back out. Her eyes then go wide and she turns to the exit of the warehouse. "The girl!" She teleports from sight and then reappears at the door, bursting through it. Nothing. No vans, no goons, no girl; she was too late. Her hand balls into a fist. "They got away!"

Weiss walks up behind Ruby and the red haired girl turns to her.

"Well, there goes that plan of yours. What do you wanna do now?"

Weiss’ eyes look to the ground, her hand on her chin in thought. "I don’t know…"

"Well there’s a shocker. Ran out of ideas? Unless you’ve got any more brilliant schemes up those incredibly long sleeves of yours, I think we might be out of luck on this one."

"Ugh…"

The sound of groaning causes Weiss and Ruby to look behind them.

"Well… we still have one option," Weiss says as she looks at the goon on the ground who got his back slashed by her.

Ruby gives Weiss a curious look. "What, you wanna interrogate him?"

Weiss looks back at Ruby. "Do you have a better solution?"

"Do you even know how to interrogate someone?"

“I, um… once read a book that had a scene like that…”

Ruby sighs, shaking her head. “Oh good, that ought to be useful then. Alright, hang tight, I’ve got this.”

"Oh, now you’re telling me you know how to interrogate a person?"

"It’s not as hard as you’re making it sound, you know. Just takes a lot of grit." Weiss finds herself wincing at the implications of "grit". Ruby walks closer to Weiss, then says, "Look, are you serious about this, or not?"

Weiss slowly looks over at the man on the ground groaning in pain, then back to Ruby, nodding her head.

"Then leave it to me. Just ask him the questions; try to get an answer. I’ll take care of the rest. Got it?"

Weiss narrows her eyes. "What do you mean by that."

"Just need you to follow my lead. Think you can do that for me, Princess?"

Weiss moans at her nickname, crossing her arms over her chest. "So long as you stop calling me that."

Ruby smirks. "Alright…" With that, Ruby begins to walk over to the downed man. Weiss follows, looking uneasy; unsure about what is about to happen.

The injured man desperately crawls across the ground, cursing under his breath as he writhed in pain. He is halted when a boot clad foot stomps in front of his path. He slowly glares up to see the red haired girl smiling down at him.

"And where do you think you’re going?" she asks mockingly. He growls. "Can’t have you skipping out on us just yet. No, we still have some things to talk about."

She bends down and takes his shoulder, dragging him across the ground to turn him around toward Weiss. Once that’s done, she puts her knee on his back and grabs his arm, extending it out, then places her other knee down on it.

"Guh…! Damn brat…!" he curses in pain.

"Hush," Ruby orders. She looks at Weiss, who nods her head. She looks back down at the man. "Frank, was it? This is how things are gonna work out: my colleague here is gonna ask you some questions. Now, you’re going to answer her truthfully, or I’m gonna make you answer her. We clear?"

"Go to hell…"

She nods up to Weiss. "I think we’re clear. He’s all yours. Ask away. "

Weiss slowly nods, sweat dropping down her face. She clears her throat, then speaks. "Why were you pursuing the Fauna child?"

He laughs. "I ain’t tellin’ you shit… so you might as well get that through your skull right now…"

Weiss clicks her tongue, not really getting the answer she was hoping for.

Ruby shakes her head. "Oh, that was definitely not the right answer…"

She raises her fist into the air, then slams it down.

Pop!

"Son of a BITCH!!"

Weiss jumped violently at what just happened. Ruby smashed her hand into the man’s side, snapping one of his ribs in two, a very loud "pop" accompanying the action. He writhed underneath’s Ruby hold in extreme pain, struggling to get free. Weiss had her hands over her mouth, eyes wide as her body shook.

"You either answer the question the first time, or I make you answer the second. And the third. And the forth. Do I make myself clear?" She grabs his side and squeezes, causing the main to scream out. Ruby looks up at Weiss. “Hey."

Weiss turns to Ruby, a look of disgust and fear on her face.

"Finish what you started."

Weiss closes her eyes, shaking her head. Her hands were wrapped around herself, hair hanging over her face. She takes a deep breath and steels herself as best as she can. Turning back, she places her hands to her side.

"W…Why were you… Why were you pursuing the Fauna child?"

The man continued to groan in pain before his hair is grasped by Ruby and his head is yanked up. She gets right in his ear and says, "I’ve still got 9 more ribs on this side alone. Give me an excuse…"

He gives her a killer glare through his pain, teeth grit. His eyes avert to Weiss, who stood, waiting for an answer, yet still showed a bit of fear. He closes his eyes and sighs. "…She’s one of our slaves…"

Weiss and Ruby both looked shocked by the answer.

"That guy with the orange hair… he runs some kind of underground business that…"

"That what?" Ruby demands.

"…He takes people and Fauna and makes them do some shady shit for some kind of business he runs. He hired us to do the dirty work like chase down that kid… She and her family got loose a month ago…We’ve been hunting them down ever since…"

Weiss purses her lips. "Where is the rest of her family?"

He winces in pain. "…They got away… Little brat managed to keep our attention long enough… to let them escape… while she stayed behind and ran from us… Only problem was, hehehe… she didn’t think about how she’d get out of dodge… Serves her right…"

"Isn’t she apart of the White Fang? Why didn’t she just go to them for help?"

He snorts. "She ain’t apart of no White Fang…" Weiss was surprised by this. "There aren’t even any of those freaks in Vale City… Haven’t been for a while… No, she just likes to pretend she is… Thinks they’ll come rescue her one day, or something stupid like that… Boss didn’t like her doing that… but she just kept on believing… Even made her own little scarf… Stupid kid…"

Weiss lost herself in thought, confused by the information she was given. Ruby was quick to notice her sudden hesitation. "Weiss." Weiss snaps back to reality. "Come on. Next question."

She shakes her head. "R-Right." She clears her throat. "Your boss: who is he?"

He snorts. "Hell if I know…"

"Really?" Ruby asks. Her hand squeezes down on Frank’s side, making him yell out. "You wouldn’t happen to be lying, would you?"

"Damn it, it’s the truth! He never gave us a name. The guy goes by either "Conman" or just "boss". He never told us his real name in case something like this were to ever happen. I ain’t lyin’!"

Ruby and Weiss exchange glances. Weiss nods her head. Ruby sighs and releases Frank’s side.

"What did Melody write on the notepad?" Weiss asks. "Where are your friends taking her?"

He shakes his head. "…I… I can’t…"

Ruby grabs his head. "Hey! We had an agreement. You answer when she’s talking to you, or I take over. "

"If I tell you, I’m as good as dead…"

"If you don’t tell her, you’re gonna get your ribs snapped and you’re as good as dead. What’s it gonna be, pal?"

He snarls, clenching his teeth.

"Suit yourself." Ruby raises her fist in the air and prepares to slam it down. Weiss looks away.

"Wait-Wait-Wait! Wait!" In the knick of time, Ruby stops herself. She and Weiss look at him expectedly. "…Fine… Fine… I’ll talk, just… don’t hit me again…"

Ruby lowers her fist back to her side. "Those ‘obedience lessons’ aren’t sounding so great anymore, are they?"

He snarls underneath her. "…The kid said… the rest of her family was… hiding out in some shack… in the Emerald Forest… west side… not too far from here… Catch is… it’s a mile outside of the barrier…"

At that, Ruby’s eyes widen, her mouth opening slightly.

"Go on," Weiss says.

The man exhales. "My guess is… they hid out there so they could maybe scare us off from giving chase… Maybe use-"

"Use the Grimm as a last resort scare…" Weiss finishes for him. Ruby looks up at her.

"Heh… Only problem is… Grimm don’t tend to hang too close to the walls… so the chances of finding one that close to the city… is almost zero…"

Weiss holds her position of thought, staying silent as she process the information. Ruby continues to look at her, having thoughts of her own.

"Weiss-" she begins.

"That’s enough," Weiss interrupts. “We’re done with him. Come on, we have to move."

"Hold on, Weiss-"

But she doesn’t hear Ruby as she walks off toward the exit, drawing out her rapier. Underneath Ruby, the goon laughs. Ruby looks down at him.

"Stupid girl’s gonna get herself killed…" he says. Ruby glares down at him. "Hehe… shame, too… Of all things to die for… it had to be some dirty little Fauna bitc-"

Pow!

With one punch, the man is knocked out cold, flopping to the ground, still. Ruby focuses her attention on the exit and teleports to it. When she reappears, she walks through and finds Weiss standing, sword ready.

"Weiss, hang on a minute-"

"We don’t have time for this," Weiss says. “We have what we need, now let’s hurry before it’s too late."

With that, she summons a glyph beneath her feet and shoots upward to a building top. Ruby shakes her head, sighing at Weiss’ hastiness. Looking up, she vanishes from sight to follow the white haired girl.

She leapt from glyph to glyph as fast as she could. Time was of the essence right now and she had to make what little of it she had count. Below, Ruby could be seen teleporting, keeping up with the white haired princess.

It shouldn’t be too far now. That Frank guy said they needed to head to the West side Emerald Forest Entrance, which wasn’t to far from the warehouse they were in. Hopefully, they would be able to spot the-

"There! I can see the van!" Weiss yells down to Ruby, who quickly nods, then picks up the pace, Weiss following her lead.

With a long leap, she soars through the air. Landing, she rolls to soften the impact of the fall. At the same time, Ruby lands right next to her on one knee, not paying second mind to the fall. The two girls rise, eyes on the black van parked before them. Behind it, an entrance way into the thick brush could be seen. A sign above it read:

"-City of Vale - Emerald Forest, Citizen Passage-"

Below that sign, a smaller one hung, bold black letters written on it that read:

"-Closed For Renovations. Restriction Denied Until Further Notice-"

"Guess even the citizen zone is closed for the moment," Weiss remarks.

"So, what, people can still go into the forest?" Ruby asks.

"Well of course. Not all of the Emerald Forest is outside of the barrier. People come here all the time to hang out, have picnics, go jogging; anything you would normally do in a park. Beyond that safe zone is a sort of warning zone, spreading a few miles out, that tells you you’re approaching the city limits. When the safe zone is open to the public, you’ll usually find guards by the warning zones to deter people from proceeding any further for their own safety. After passing that zone…"

"It’s the city barrier…" Ruby finishes.

Weiss nods her head in confirmation. "And just outside of that, we’ll find the shack we’re looking for." With that, Weiss begins to walk forward, heading for the forest entrance. Ruby sees this and makes a grab for her arm, stopping her from proceeding. "H-Hey! Unhand me!"

"Hold on a minute, Weiss."

"Would you stop fooling around? We do not have time for this. If we don’t hurry, those thugs will get to the shack first."

"Yeah, that’s the problem here…"

Weiss yanks her arms from Ruby’s grip, taking a step back. She crosses her arms over her chest. "And what do you mean by that? You aren’t getting cold feet all of the sudden now, are you?"

"Weiss, that guy said the shack we’re looking for is a mile outside of the barrier. You know, the only thing keeping us and our imminent demise separate."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Weiss throws her hands up at Ruby’s claim, then puts her hands on her hips. "Are you seriously chickening out now after everything that has happened thus far?"

"Weiss, we step outside that barrier and we are in their territory: the Grimm’s domain. I can handle a few dudes with some guns, but I am not going up against those monsters."

"Would you listen to yourself? It’s a mile outside of the barrier, Grimm never wander that close to it. The chances of a Grimm encounter are so low, that section might as well be part of the safe zone."

"But it isn’t, and there is a reason it’s not. I don’t care if it’s 1 mile or 1 foot, if it isn’t inside the barrier, it isn’t safe. Heck, it isn’t even all that safe inside the barrier. We are taking a big chance with this, Weiss."

A wave a realization passes over Weiss. "Oh, I see what this is about."

"Do you?"

"This is about what you were saying back at the warehouse, isn’t it? How a Princess like myself wouldn’t be able to last long as a true Huntress? Of all the times to mock me, is this really the best?"

“Weiss, that has nothing to do with… Well, no, actually, it kind of does a little bit, but it isn’t the reason I’m-"

"Okay, then it’s about you. All of that big talk was just a facade, wasn’t it? You really are just some kid who thinks she can take on anything, but in reality, there really is a reason I’m the Huntress here and you aren’t, right?”

Ruby rubs her temples in frustration at Weiss’ accusations. "Ugh, would you just listen for a-"

"Or is it…?"

Ruby is cut off from talking and looks at Weiss suspiciously, curious as to what she was about to get at. "Is it what?"

The white haired girl puts a hand on her chin. "This is about that incident with that Island a few years ago. What was it… the Patch Island Massacre?"

Three words. Those three words were all it took to make Ruby start to tremble where she stood. Her silver eyes go wider than they had all day. She can feel her heart rapidly pounding against her chest as flashes of memories began to play through her mind. Her hands begin to convulse continuously.

"Weiss…" she says low.

Weiss snaps her fingers in a "bingo" moment. "That is it isn’t it? You can’t seriously be letting what happened 2 years ago scare you now. Yes, it was a tragedy, but it was also a mistake; a fluke. There has to be a rational explanation as to what happened to that island’s barrier that day and the odds of that happening again, especially to such a powerful city like Vale, is close to none."

"Weiss… stop…"

"For someone so boastful of their ability to take on anything that comes her way, I’m very surprised that you’d let something as pathetic as a rumor scare you off from something this important. There are no Grimm near the wall."

"Weiss…!"

"The fact is, Vale is far more formidable than some small island with a much weaker shield than-"

"WEISS!!"

The princess found herself jumping back, hand unconsciously moving to the rapier on her side. Her heart nearly stopped at the loud, booming, uncharacteristically demonic voice that came from the red haired girl.

Ruby stands, breathing deep, hands balled so tight, a bit of blood trickled down her knuckles.

"…You don’t… talk about the massacre… ever…" Ruby warns. Weiss’ grip on her weapon only tightened as she spoke. "You have no idea… what the Grimm are like… I don’t care how many textbooks you’ve read on them… how many classes you’ve enrolled in… I don’t care if you know every weakness, or where all the blindspots are on every single one of them… You will never know how terrifying they actually are… until you’ve looked one in the eye… until you’ve felt it’s darkness suffocate you… until you’ve heard it mock you from the shadows, laugh at your fear…"

Weiss’ bottom lip trembles. Slowly, Ruby’s gaze rises to meet Weiss’ own fearful one.

"If you go out there… you will die, Weiss… You’re not ready for this…"

Her teeth grit as a bead of sweat rolls down her face, then drips off her chin. Her body, still slightly trembling, straightens up.

“I… I am ready… I’ve been ready for a long time now… I know for a fact that I can defeat a Grimm… Even if by some stroke of horrible luck, I do end up encountering one of those creatures… I am 100% confident in my ability to kill it…"

Ruby shakes her head. "100% isn’t nearly enough…"

"It’s more than enough…" She draws her rapier, swinging it to her side. "Stay here if you want. I wouldn’t expect you to come along anyway. This is my mission, and I will see it through." Her eyes narrow. "It hasn’t been a pleasure."

She whips around, walking away from Ruby and towards the forest entrance. Ruby watches her leave, making no moves to stop her. After a minute, the Princess disappears from sight, and Ruby is left alone.

"Argh!"

She grips her head, eyes slamming shut, teeth grit in pain. The memories continue to pound on her skull. Flashes of blood stained surfaces, visions of mangled, unrecognizable corpses, the sound of horrible, blood curdling laughter, those… red eyes… The memories she locked deep within herself begin to forcefully resurface.

She reaches into her long red jacket and scrambles for the orange bottle she constantly kept on her person. She staggers over to a bench next to the black van and falls onto it. Unscrewing the cap, she puts a couple of pills in her hand then throws them into her mouth, swallowing dry, not noticing the pain as they slid down her throat harshly. The pain in her head easily overcame that.

Moments pass and, slowly, the pain begins to subside. The pounding ceases and the memories fade back into her subconscious, locked away once more. She leans forward, face in hands as she breathed heavily, sweating all over. Her body trembles as she wraps her arms around herself, bring her knees up.

"Go away…" she whispers to herself. "I don’t want these memories… just leave me alone…"

As the sun sets, she sits alone at a desolate park entrance where a stubborn Princess had just walked to her death. She tried to warn her, guide her into not doing it. But now, she could only hope the hardheaded Princess was right about her claim. If not… that would be the last time Ruby ever saw her.

"You idiot…" she whispers, closing her eyes, drowning out the world around her.

Unbeknownst to Ruby, however, Weiss hadn’t completely departed quite yet. While the heiress stormed off defiantly, nose in the air, chest pumped out confidently, that entire facade crumbled the instant she was a good distance away from Ruby’s line of sight and hearing.

The moment she found herself alone, all the strength in her body dissipated and she was forced to use a nearby tree for support, almost falling to the ground. Her hand rushes up to her chest as she hyperventilates rapidly, eyes going wide, shaking in their sockets. A chill overcame her entire body, so cold that it was painful. Sweat ran down her pale face, lips trembling. She could feel tears forcing their way out of her ducts, a few streaming down her cheeks.

She tried her absolute best to calm down, but it was practically impossible. What little strength she had completely left her now and she slides down the tree she used for support to the ground. Her knees rise up to her chest as she takes on the fetal position. She doesn’t even notice that she slowly rocked back and forward.

For a moment, this is all she can bring herself to do. She cried like a scared little child, the tears refusing to not stream out, her body still trembling profusely, her breathing not slowing a bit. Her throat closed up to withhold the cries wanting to escape her throat, only whimpers making it out. She bit her bottom lip hard, almost drawing blood.

Moments pass and her breakdown slowly follows suit. It takes a few more minutes, but Weiss is able to regain enough sense to wipe her eyes clean of the tears, streaks still lingering on her cheeks. She takes long, slow breaths to control calm herself and slow her heartbeat. The unconscious rocking comes to a stop and she is able to completely regain control of herself. She takes a few extra moments to compose herself, leaning the back of her head on the tree, eyes closing as she breathed.

Finally, her eyes slowly open and she sniffles, wiping her eyes once more. Legs still wobbly, she slowly rises from her spot on the ground. Once she’s sure she can support her own weight again, she backs away from the tree and stands.

“Stop it…” she says to herself low. “Compose yourself… You are strong… You are beautiful… You are alive…” She takes a deep breath. “They’re just words… they’re just words… they’re just words…”

One more deep breath and she smacks both of her hands into her cheeks hard, leaving red marks on either side. After which, her eyes snap open sharp, she puffs out her chest once again and nods confidently.

“You’re okay, Princess… Now focus…”

And this time, for real, she begins to head off for her mission.

Hiking was never a particular hobby she delved in before. She’d done research on the act, hearing things about it being relaxing; a joyous adventure for any soul to partake in and enjoy. Truthfully, there was a time she’d thought about giving it a try, maybe participating in something new.

But, at this very moment, right now, she realized why she’d never bothered to pursue that interest. Because, to put it bluntly: this sucked.

"Ah! Dang it! Stupid… branch!"

She ungracefully made her way through the forest in search of the shack. Her rapier hand swung at oncoming branches that found it funny to smack her in the face every chance they got. Keeping herself clean was something that just wasn’t going to happen, to her utter dismay. More often than not, she would find her small jacket and long side-tail getting snagged on the surrounding brush.

Rip!

"What the…?! Oh, great!" She inspects her jacket, a long tear now stretching through it. She groans in annoyance. "Well, so much for this… I like this jacket, too…"

Weiss slips out of the blue and red jacket and throws it on the ground. As much as it pained her to do so, it wasn’t going to be of much use to her now.

She’d been walking for a little while. She couldn’t exactly rush, though, seeing as how she really had no idea where she was going. Unfortunately, that Frank guy failed to really give her exact directions, something she berated herself for not paying attention to. Then again, time wasn’t really on her side and it couldn’t be helped that she missed a few questions on her list.

Luckily, the men she was tracking down were wise enough to mark their path as a means to have a way back to the exit. Carved out “X’s” were all the over the path of trees she followed. All she had to do was keep on them closely and she would find her shack in no time.

"Ah. There it is…"

She spots a large chain fence. It seemed to spread for quite a distance, most likely around the entirely of the forest park. Every few feet or so, all over it, large red signs hung, reading:

"STOP! City Limit: Turn Back Immediately"

As much as she hated doing this, she would have no choice but to break this rule. So, she walks forward reaching the fence. A large hole can be seen in it as if having been cut out with some tools. Weiss shakes her head.

"How irresponsible… Those crooks have no respect for safety protocol." She moves to go through it.

However, something stops her suddenly. A strange wave of hesitation washes over her and she can’t bring herself to move through the hole in the gate. What was the matter with her?

She takes a step back, not making a move after. She simply stares through the hole. For some reason, it seemed… darker… almost void-like. It seemed less like a simple act of vandalism and more like the exit from a safe haven; an entrance to something beyond…

As much as she tried not to listen, Ruby’s words rang through her head. She tried to block them out but they wouldn’t cease. She closes her eyes and begins to breath slowly, steadying her rapidly beating heart. Her hand balls into fists and her chest puffs out.

"Come on Weiss…" she says to herself. "You can do this. Remember your training… Remember your duty… You have to do this… You are a protector of justice… You are a Huntress…"

With that, her eyes open, a determined flame resonating in them. She walks froward to the hole in the fence one more. This time, however, she does not stop, walking straight through the hole and continuing forward.

All of the sudden, she feels a surge run through her body. Not a painful one by any means, but… an unfamiliar one. Every hair on her body stood on end. For a short instance, her heart beat at a rapid pace, then slowed back down just as quickly. She could literally feel the aura within herself spike, then quell in but a second. Her legs wobble and she has to lean against a tree to keep herself balanced.

She breathes erratically, hand on chest, sweat pouring down her face.

"T…That must have been the barrier…" Then, just like that, her strength returns to her and she feels just as normal as a moment ago. She stands up straight and shakes her head of the strange feeling that overcame her. "I never expected the transition to feel so… odd." She looks down at her palm and squeezes it shut, looking up into the rest of the forest she needed to traverse through. "Alright then. Back to it, I suppose…"

Steeling her nerves, she begins to walk, following the marking on the trees left behind by the goons. Only a bit further now…

Her chest rose and fell softly as she lay on the park bench. The sky had grown dark, the bright full moon shining above. It wasn’t anything extreme, but the air was cool, evident by Ruby’s bundled position, her body contorted into a ball of warmth as she slept, hood pulled over her head.

After her mini episode a few hours earlier, Ruby had lost the strength in her body to depart for home. Before she could do anything to fight it, her eyes grew heavy and, in an instant, she had fallen asleep. Her mind was full of too many thoughts for her to really care that she was in the middle of an empty park.

As she slept, her face twisted into one of stress. Her lips moved as if she were talking, but only silent mumbles echoed through. Steadily, her breathing grew more erratic and she started to fidget. Her feet ever so slightly moved as if she were trying to run, her hands tightening.

A hand grips her shoulder and begins to shake her softly.

"Ruby…" a voice calls her name quietly as to not startle her. She doesn’t wake up and only struggles more. The hand continues to shake her. "Ruby. Hey, Ruby!"

Her eyes snap open and she is alert. Her head twists to the stranger quickly, every sense in her body on high alert. However, she begins to calm down when she recognizes the face of the familiar blonde boy.

"J…Jaune…?" she mumbles.

He gives her a grin. "Hey there. Sorry to wake you. Looked like you were having a nightmare."

She sighs. "Yeah, something like that…" She inspects her surroundings, trying to get a baring on where she is. "How did… How did you find me?"

“Are you kidding? Pyrrha and I have been looking for you and Weiss all day. After you two dashed off, we tried chasing you guys down. When we lost your trail, we decided to split up and maybe cover more ground. If you hadn't fell asleep here, I probably never would have found you!"

Ruby rubs her eyes. "I’m sorry about that. It’s… been a wild day on my side, too."

“Yeah, I can see that." Just then, a thought crosses Jaune’s mind. "Wait a minute, if you’re here, then where’s Weiss at? Did you two ditch each other, or something?"

With those words, the memories of the few hours before rushed back into Ruby’s mind. Her eyes wander off to the side where the entrance to the Emerald Forest was. Jaune notices this and follows her gaze.

"The forest? Why the heck would she want to go in there? And isn’t this section closed off? If I know that girl, she wouldn’t just blatantly break the rules like that without a good reason."

At that moment, Ruby found her stomach to be tied in knots. She replays the final conversation she had with the Princess before they went their separate ways. She brings her knees in closer to herself and wraps her arms around them. She can’t bring herself to look Jaune in the eye as she speaks.

“I… It’s a long story, but… she’s going outside of the barrier…"

It takes a moment for Jaune to register what Ruby had said, but when he does, his eyes slowly go wide. "W…What?"

Ruby bites her lip. "That… Fauna girl… The guys that took her b-brought her to the forest so… so they could f-find this shack her family is hiding in and… and capture them. Weiss decided to follow the men and… Actually, I don’t r-really know what’s she planning on doing."

"And this shack… it’s outside of the barrier… the only thing keeping us… and the Grimm… apart…?" Ruby slowly nods. She hesitantly looks up at Jaune to see him staring down at her with a horrified expression. "Why… Why did you let her go alone…?"

Ruby’s own eyes widen at Jaune words. "…I’m not her s-sitter, Jaune! I tried to make her stay, but she’s so darn stubborn…! T-There was nothing I could do."

"You have to know that… she has to know that going out of the barrier is certain death…"

"The shack she’s looking for is a mile outside of the barrier. She is convinced that the chances of running into a Grimm so close to it is impossible."

"But it’s still outside of the barrier…"

"I tried to tell her that, but her mind was made up. There’s no way I was going to stop her."

Jaune finds himself stumbling back. His stomach began to hurt. He felt like throwing up for some reason. His body shook uncontrollably. The boy’s blue eyes turn to the forest entrance where his partner entered. Slowly, he begins to walk toward it. Ruby is alarmed by his action.

"J-Jaune! W-What are you…?!"

He stops walking, but doesn’t turn to Ruby.

"That is suicide, Jaune! If you go outside of that barrier, you’re as good as dead! I don’t care what Weiss says, the Grimm will devour you and you aren’t ready to hold your own against them!"

"I have to, Ruby…" he says.

"But why? Why go for her? As far as I’ve seen, she doesn’t even like you! You said it yourself, she hates your guts. Weiss is nothing but a mean, uptight, self righteous brat who doesn’t care about anyone but herself! Why die for someone so… foul?"

"…You’re right…" Ruby snaps back at Jaune’s answer. "I’ve gotta be honest… nothing you said was a lie… For the few months I’ve know Weiss, she has done nothing but make my life a living Hell… She belittles me, treats me like some insect, makes fun of my skills, how I look, how I act…" He snorts. "Heck, she won’t even sit next to me at lunch, not even when I don’t have a place to sit. Fact is, Ruby, I have no reason to want to save her…"

"Then why…? Why are you doing this…? Aren’t you scared…? Aren’t you even a little worried about what might happen to you out there…? So why are you doing this…?"

Slowly, he turns toward the redhead, a small smile on his face. "Because that’s just what I do… If I had to keep saving her ass, I wouldn’t even hesitate."

Ruby was lost. She had no idea what he was talking about.

He looks up to the sky above. "I always wanted to be a hero, you know… Not for some stupid respect from other people, some name on a huge statue… I honestly just want to make the world a better place. I’m not even fighting to maintain some form of justice. I just want to live in a world where we don’t have to worry about going two feet out of some stupid safe zone."

He gazes down at his open, shaking palm. "I am terrified right now. Not just for Weiss, but for myself, because I have to go out there. I honestly didn’t think I’d last a month in Beacon when I learned about the Grimm. I still kind of want to drop out. Maybe then I won’t have to deal with the Grimm. Maybe I can just be ignorant and live a life of bliss at a cozy, boring desk job…"

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

"But then I realize… I don’t want that either… I have too much hope for the world to just run away… I’ve been looking forward to making a change since the day I could walk… My need to protect people trumps my fear of the Grimm any day… And I plan on protecting everyone… Even my crazy, over bearing partner…"

His hand reaches to his side and he grabs the hilt of his sword. Pulling, he brings his blade out and rests it on his shoulder.

“Jaune…” Ruby pleads. He doesn’t respond. ”What are you gonna do…?" Ruby asks.

Jaune shrugs his shoulders. "I’m bringing my stupid partner home…"

With no other words spoken, Jaune runs off into the forest to find his partner, sword over shoulder. As he departs, Ruby could still see his hand shaking as he tried to ball it into a fist.

She leans back on the bench and pull her hood over her eyes. "Idiots… both of them…”

She was getting close, she could feel it. The trail had been leading her to the destination all this time. Of course, there was no real way to gauge how close she was to finding the shack, but something in her gut kept telling her that she was ever closer to finding what she was looking for. Still she did wish there was some sort of sign to-

"No! No! You promised! No!"

Bang! Bang!

Weiss cupped her hands over her ears as the sound of gunfire rang out through the forest. She got to the ground in case the bullets were aimed at her. However, her paranoia seemed unnecessary as she seemed to be in the clear.

Bang! Bang!

More bullets. Guns seemed to be fired a ways away from where she was. It was definitely close, that was for sure. She had to see what was happening. Did the thugs find the shack? What was-

"Leave her. We’ve gotta get going."

She gasped when she hears the sounds of voices and footsteps approaching her. Her mind scrambles for a solution on what to do. The idea of maybe combating them passed her mind, but was the risk worth it? Right now, she was more concerned about what they were shooting at.

So, she looks around and runs for a tree, ducking behind it quietly. The moment she did, three men appeared from the bushes, holding weapons, wearing black suits.

"You sure we should have left the kid?" one of them asks.

"Boss’ orders," another answers. "Said she wouldn’t be a problem anymore."

The first grunt snorts. "I’ll say. The way she looked, it wouldn’t surprise me if she offed herself. Kind of feel sorry for the kid."

"Well, I left her a little something to maybe help the process. It was the least I could do, right?"

As the three laugh, their voices fade away as they depart. Soon enough, Weiss can’t even see them, coming out from her hiding spot once she was sure the coast was clear. She turns in the direction the men came from and slowly starts to walk, cautious of what she would find on the other side of the brush. Her hand reaches out and moves aside the wildlife in her way.

It was a somewhat open patch in the forest. Trees grew on the outside of the open circle. In that open circle, a worn down, wooden shack sat, the door slightly open. It was eerily quiet, contrasting greatly with the loud sound of gunfire just moments before. Up above, the full moon shone in the dark, cloudy, starless night sky.

For a moment, she could only look on. She found her heart beating faster the more she stood there, staring at the silent house. A light breeze rolls through, blowing her white hair that shone in the moonlight. Taking a deep breath, she wills herself to move forward. She takes slow steps, not particularly in a rush to see what was in the shack.

The girl reaches the entrance. The door lightly swung on it’s hinges, creepily. Even though she was standing but a mere few feet in front of the shack, there was still not a sound to be heard. The only way she was to know what awaited her was to open the door. So, she steps closer.

"Come on, Weiss…" she says to herself. "Just open the door…"

Her hand begins to rise from her side at a snails pace. Sweat began to drip down her face. Her hand started to tremble uncontrollably as she bit her lip to stop it. Eventually, she was forced to take her other hand and grab the shaking one. It did nothing to help, but she closed her eyes tightly.

"Open… the door…"

Her hand begins to inch closer once more. The tips of her fingers brush the handle ever so slightly and she flinches back a little. She grabs the door handle and prepares to pull…

"Heheheheh…"

Her entire body freezes. She knows she just heard that…

"Hehehehehe…"

Laughter… demonic, sinister laughter rang out to her right from the dark confines of the brush. Someone… something was watching her… Her eyes slowly turn to the bushes, wide. Her lip quivered as even more sweat glossed over her pale skin.

She retracted her hand from the door handle as she completely faced the direction of the laughter. That’s when she saw them. When every single one of the hairs on her body stood on end. When she felt as if she were being suffocated, weighed down by fear.

Red eyes gleamed out at her, not moving, not even making a sign that they were truly there. She knew she had to move. Right now, simply standing there was the absolute worst thing she could possibly do. And yet… she couldn’t… She literally could not will herself to make any sort of motion, frozen by an overwhelming feeling of fear.

She couldn't even catch her breath. Her heart felt as if it stopped beating entirely. Her body was trembling like never before, but she couldn’t even feel that.

That was when it moved…

Slowly, the bushes departed as a paw stepped out, completely black, a red mist-like tinge resonating around it. With every move it made, Weiss would flinch as if wanting to run but not being able to. It takes another step, revealing it’s obscured face. Some sort of red liquid dripped on the ground from it’s large mouth. And that was the worst part… It’s mouth was filled with an impossible number of jagged, blood red teeth, top to bottom. It’s face was like the personification of nightmares. This… beast was something that shouldn’t be allowed to exist…

And this beast… was staring directly at Weiss…

Not a sound was heard. Neither the breathing from Weiss’s own mouth or the laughter from the Grimm that stood across from her. A moment that felt like an eternity passed. Her mind was far beyond scrambled to come up with a good plan of action. Her eyes glance down to her hip where her rapier was. This wasn’t the best of ideas, but what choice did she have?

She’d been training for this day for as long as she could remember. Countless hours of reading and studying the creatures she would have to battle one day all lead up to this moment. She remembers her last conversation with Ruby, how the red haired girl proclaimed how unprepared Weiss was to deal with this situation, how Weiss swore to prove those words wrong.

Now was the time. Weiss was ready, and this was the best time to prove it. But first, she had to grab her weapon.

She looks up back at the creature in order to-

Red eyes…

Her breath hitches in her throat as the eyes of the Beowolf looked directly into hers, only inches from being able to rip her throat out. She wanted to scream like she never had before, but couldn’t even do that. Every coherent thought in her head had been slain and the only thing she could do was stand in absolute terror of what was to happen next.

It’s large mouth opens wide, preparing to rip into the poor girl. Her life didn’t even have time to flash before her eyes.

"Weiss!"

Slice!

A blade slashes down, not making contact with the Grimm as it seems to vanish from sight. Weiss is snapped out of her stupor when the blade is only inches from cutting through her and she jumps back. She looks to the side to see her blonde partner, an alert look in his eye.

"Weiss!" She is once again brought back to reality by his voice. He grabs her shoulder and shakes her. "We have to leave right now! Weiss!" He shakes her again, violently. "We need to run! If we stay here, we die! Come on!"

He grabs her wrist and turns to run away-

"Jaune!"

It’s too late. Before he can do anything to avoid it, a claw slashes his chest, throwing him a good 10 feet to his back, leaving Weiss alone. She looks at the Grimm to see it charge at her. Adrenaline kicking in, she dives to the side, just barely dodging. However, the Grimm clamps it’s teeth down on her ankle.

"Ahh!" she screams in pain.

The Grimm starts to drag her across the ground toward the darkness of the forest. Frantically, Weiss pulls her sword out and slashes the beast’s face. It howls and releases her from its hold, allowing the girl to scramble to her feet-

"Augh!"

Unfortunately, she falls to the ground again when the pain in her ankle sparks. She looks down at it to see it bleeding quite a bit. She gasps as the Grimm launches back at her for another attack.

Just then, Jaune jumps in front of Weiss, a shield on his arm, ready and blocking the beast. The strength of the monster throws him back, but he manages to catch himself and prepare for another attack. The Grimm pounces, a loud roar emitting from it. Weiss acts fast and summons a glyph beneath herself, throwing her at Jaune and knocking him to the ground, the Beowolf sailing over them.

"T-Thanks," Jaune says. He quickly stands to his feet. "Can you stand?"

She reaches her hand out and says, "Just help me up." He complies and grabs her hand, pulling her up, supporting her as she staggers. She looks up and her eyes go wide. "Behind you!"

"Wha- Augh!"

His leg is bit and he is pulled down, dragged by the Grimm. It swings him by the leg and throws him into a tree, where he falls to ground, unmoving.

"Jaune!" Weiss yells out.

The Grimm pounces at her and she is quick on her feet, summoning a glyph and dashing to the side. However, the Grimm appears before her and she is met with the red eyes and teeth of the beast. It slashes her in the chest, drawing more blood, throwing her to her back in a twist. Then it jumps on her, pinning her arms to the side. Her eyes go wide as the red liquid dropping from the Grimm’s mouth drips on her.

"Please no…!" she pleads as tears form in her eyes. She struggles as hard as she can, trembling beneath the Grimm’s hold.

It slowly inches it’s mouth down around her neck and starts to close as if playing with her. It’s teeth slowly begin sink into her flesh, blood dripping from the points of insertion. She opens her mouth to scream, but only whimpers of pain and fear come out as she prepares to meet her fate.

A second growl… This can’t be happening… Another one…?

No… It was something else…

Arms wrap around the Grimm’s neck and pulls it back and away from Weiss’ throat. She is surprised by the fact that she hasn’t been killed and looks up at what was happening. The Grimm thrashed around, trying it’s best to shake whoever was on it’s back off. However, to her surprise, whoever was holding it was not letting go, summoning impossible strength no human should have.

The person growled just as much as the Grimm itself as they battled with the beast. Finally, the person revs up and throws the monster across the ground, making it land in rolls. Once it stops, it staggers to its feet, growling low at the newcomer. That’s when she realizes who it was that appeared.

"You…"

Her red hair hung messily over her face as she stood glaring back at he Grimm that wanted her dead. Her hands were flexed in a manner as if she had claws. There was a low growl in her throat as her eyes never left her enemy.

"You… came…" Weiss says in disbelief.

The redhead began to slowly take her long red jacket and the dark gray one underneath off. They slowly fall off her arms, her eyes staying squarely on the Beowolf. Once they’re off, she hands them back to Weiss. Hesitantly, Weiss reaches outs and takes the jackets in hand.

"Get back…" Ruby says.

With no questions, Weiss begins to slowly stand to her feet. After, she staggers back, giving the redhead all the space she needs. Over by the tree, Jaune manages to come back to his senses and witness the sight before him, his eyes wide.

Ruby starts to lower herself to the ground on all fours. Her pupils have slanted feral like. Her extra sharp teeth are clenched as she growled at the beast that growled at her. The two stare at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.

Memories begins to flash in Ruby’s mind. Memories of that day… the day she did her best to forget, to lock away. The memory in particular was of the first time she encountered a Grimm, the first time she died…

A Past — 2 Years Ago

Her eyes slowly opened despite her desire to simply sleep and let death consume her. Through her blurred vision, she saw three Beowolves crowded around Yang, fighting over who got to eat what part of her. When one tried to snap at her, another would snap at it in anger. Eventually, one of them grabbed her by the leg and drug her through the brush where Ruby could no longer see her sister.

She felt a searing amount of pain on her neck and her eyes look above her. One of the creatures had it’s jaw latched onto her throat, trying to rip it out. There was a grotesque amount of blood everywhere and Ruby didn’t want to think about which surface of her body it dripped most from.

At this point, she had accepted it. Perhaps death wouldn’t be so bad, she thought. Besides, it was a much more painless option than having to go a another day in this cruel world. By now, death was nothing more than a long overdue pleasure. She had nothing more to live for now, so nothing was holding her back.

And as she closed her eyes for the final time, she welcomed the cold embrace of death, longing for freedom…

But it would seem fate had other plans…

For at that moment, her eyes snapped open, more demonic in nature now, devoid of emotion for but a moment. Shortly after that, her teeth clenched, her muscles protruded, her blood began to boil…

Something had awoken within the little red girl… something that she would grow to hate… something she would do everything in her power to keep locked away…

Something she would fail tragically at…

Her hand rose at it’s own will and jabbed into the eye of the beast, blood spraying from it’s socket all over her face. This action was enough to free herself from the Grimm’s grasp. Her other hand shoots up and pierces into the beast’s throat, it going still. Yanking her hand from it’s throat, the beast flops to the ground, unmoving.

The little red girl stands, covered in her own blood and the dead Grimm’s. Her eyes shook in their sockets. She turns her head to the direction her sister was dragged off in and wastes no time, running through it. The first thing she sees is the Grimm gnawing at the blonde. When they notice her presence, they howl at her.

"Hahhh!" she howls back and runs forward.

Two of the Grimm run for her.

Present Day

"Hahhh!" she screams, shooting off at her enemy. The Grimm does likewise.

The two collide, the Grimm biting into Ruby’s shoulder, she stabbing her hand through it’s stomach. She drags it to the ground and the two roll across it. Ruby jumps off of the monster and lands on all fours. The Grimm jumps through the air and descends upon Ruby. She rolls underneath it just as it lands. It turns toward her and jumps at her again and she dodge rolls before running away.

It gives chase, right on her heels. Weiss watches with her mouth hanging agape. "This is impossible…"

Ruby skids to a stop, turning to her enemy. As it charges her, she vanishes from sight and reappears atop it’s back, bringing it to the ground. She wraps her arms around it’s throat and locks it in a strong choke hold, gritting her teeth to keep it steady. It thrashes crazily, snapping at her to get a bite in. Ruby loses her grip and is thrown off, rolling to her knee.

"Augh!" The Grimm, however is quickly on top her and sinks its teeth into her shoulder, she yelling out in pain. She begins to beat it’s head with her fist, trying to force the beast off of her.

It slams her into the ground on her back, then prepares to bite into her throat. Ruby thinks fast and grabs the Grimm’s jaws. Summoning up all the strength she can, she splits the monster’s jaw, breaking it, able to now throw it off to the side.

But she isn’t done yet. She jumps atop the beast and grabs it’s arm, pulling. Soon enough the arm rips off, blood spraying her body. She throws the limb away and continues to rip into the beast.

The entire time, Weiss and Jaune watch in horror.

A Past — 2 Years Earlier

SNAP!

That was the sound of one of the Grimm’s neck being snapped by the young girl. As it drops to the ground, a second Grimm leaps at her, knocking her and itself back through the brush on the other side. Ruby manages to throw the beast off and get to all fours. The Grimm is quick to run at her again, mouth open. She grabs its jaw, sliding back from the impact. As it does its best to close its mouth around her head, she uses all of her strength to hold it’s mouth open wide.

Little does she know, behind her, the third of the Grimm slowly emerges from the brush. As she keeps the second Grimm from biting her head off, the third slowly approaches stealthily.

Ruby is able to use her strength to throw the Grimm back and away from her. At that moment, the sneaking Beowolf attacks and latches on to her torso and brings her down to her knees, she screaming out in pain. The second decides to use her moment of distress to it’s advantage and attack as well. Ruby sees this and reaches back the beast latched on to her. She manages to spin around and make the Grimm on her torso hit the oncoming Grimm, throwing them both to the side, freeing herself.

She is forced to take a moment to breath before having to go back for round two. That’s when she sees something that might help the fight. On the ground, she notices Yang’s shotgun gauntlet a ways away. She looks over to see that the Grimm have started to recover. Without thinking twice, she runs for the gauntlet, the Grimm quickly on her tail.

She manages to reach the weapon and slip it on, the gauntlet twisting and cocking itself. Just as she turns towards the oncoming Grimm, one of them jumps at her and she manages to catch it in time. She brings the gauntlet back and punches inside the monster’s mouth, the shotgun portion of the weapon firing off and blowing the top of the monster’s head completely off, it falling to the ground, dead.

Behind her, the final Grimm rushes at her, thinking it has the element of surprise on it’s side. As it jumps at her, time slows down. In that instant, Ruby has cocked the gauntlet once more and turns to the enemy, arm already pulled back. She throws a powerful punch and it impacts the beast’s jaw, the gauntlet firing off, blowing the Grimm on the ground to the side, it’s jaw detached.

Ruby’s breathing has no rhythm to it. Her hair dangles over her blood soaked face as her eyes remain feral. She looked over to the Grimm she shot to see it struggling on the ground in pain as its jaw has just been blown off. She walks over to the now immobile creature and stands over it, looking down at the pathetic heap on the ground.

She brings the gauntlet up and punches down, a blast firing off into the Grimm’s head. After that it goes still. However, that isn’t quite enough for Ruby. She drops to her knees and cocks the shotgun again, glaring down at the dead beast. Tears begins to stream from her eyes and she brings the gauntlet up.

Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!

She keeps punching down on the Grimm, blood spraying her with each impact. There was no need for this, truth be told, but she did not care. So, she continued to blast the monster.

Soon enough, a click rings out from the gauntlet as she is now simply punching the corpse. With one last punch, she stops and simply sits there over her disfigured prey. Slowly, she stands to her feet. She turns around toward the bush her sister lay behind, body splattered in the blood of her enemies and her own, tears joining the pool beneath her feet.

Slowly, she stands to her feet. She turns away from the Grimm she’d just finished ripping apart, eyes empty, body covered from head to toe in blood.

Behind her, Jaune stands before Weiss, keeping her behind himself for protection, his sword held out in front of him. Ruby looks the trembling boy and girl up and down, her expression not changing.

"R…Ruby…?" he calls her name. She returns no answer. "‘Ruby, snap out it… It’s me, Jaune… You remember me, right…? We’re friends, aren't we…?" She continues to stare on. "Please say something, Ruby…"

In that moment, his words are able to reach her. She blinks, looking to the ground, grabbing her head. She brings a hand up and looks down at the blood covering it. Here eyes return to normal, her breathing slows down. She looks back up to Weiss and Jaune, who still look alert.

“I...I’m…" she tries to start. Then she notices the shack behind her and a thought comes to mind. "Weiss… the girl…"

Weiss’ eyes widen in realization and she turns to the shack.

"Oh god," she whispers. Her hand comes up and lands on Jaune’s shoulder. "Jaune, look out." The blonde reluctantly complies, stepping aside the let the Princess hobble toward the shack.

She moves as quickly as she can, reaching the entrance. Her hand goes for the handle, but once again, she finds something stopping her. Yet again, she cannot bring herself to open the door.

"Weiss." She jumps at the voice behind her, seeing Ruby. Her eyes are wide and she grabs for her sword. Ruby notices this. "I’m not going to hurt you…" Weiss is still a bit reluctant. "I swear…"

Fear still in her eye, Weiss decides to put what just happened to the back of her mind for now and unhand her weapon. Ruby walks forward and Weiss steps to the side. Ruby grabs the handle then looks at the whitehead. Weiss nods her head, giving Ruby the go-ahead. With that, the girl pulls the door open…

Both girls regret the decision immediately.

There was blood on every surface of the shack. The left, right, back, ceiling; every single point in the shack was smeared in blood. The source of so much gore lay dead all over the ground. Ten people were crowded on the floor in heaps. Six of them looked to be adult age. Three of them looked to be only kids, more than likely not a day older than Ruby and Weiss. On the bed, being held by a silent child, a baby was held, making no signs of being alive.

"Oh my god…" Weiss says, her hands covering her mouth, eyes going wide. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

"Hey, you girls… o…?” Jaune is shut up when he sees what was inside the shack. His face twists into one of horror. "Holy…"

Ruby looked on horrified. Her body trembled, her mouth had gone dry. She directs her attention to the child on the bed holding the baby. The dark haired young girl stared downward into space, eyes completely empty, body covered in blood just as Ruby’s. Ruby noticed something in her hand.

A gun.

"Melody…" Weiss calls out.

Slowly, Melody’s eyes begin to rise toward the two girls and one boy. Tears were streaming down her face, her lips were a straight line.

"They promised…" she began. "They said they wouldn’t hurt them… They told me… if I turned them in… they’d forgive us… I believed them… This is all my fault…"

Weiss squeezes past Ruby. "No, Melody, this is not your fault. There was nothing you could have done."

"I betrayed my family… I ratted them out…"

"You didn’t have a choice. They would have found your family eventually. I know what they did to you, they didn’t give you a choice."

"And you…" Weiss freezes when Melody addressees her. The young child has her eyes squarely on her now. "You were supposed to save us… You said you were a Huntress… Huntresses are supposed to protect the weak… They’re supposed to help those in need… But you lied… You’re no Huntress… You didn’t do anything…”

"W-Wait, Melody-"

She gasps.

The tip of Melody’s gun rose and pointed at Weiss. The whole time, her eyes remained empty.

"Oh shit…!" Jaune curses.

Ruby’s eyes widened. “No-No, Melody, don’t do this! This isn't her fault!"

"You were supposed to fight evil… You’re supposed to be the hero… Didn’t we deserve to be saved…?”

"Melody, no!" Ruby starts to move to the side. "Point the gun at me, Melody! Point it at me, not her! It’s my fault, I was supposed to help you, I’m responsible for this!"

"It’s all your fault…"

"Melody!"

"It’s all your fault…"

Weiss stands frozen, having no idea what to do. Ruby’s mind scrambles. She could teleport and grab the gun. The risk is, however, she might not be able grab her fast enough and she could shoot Weiss in a moment’s notice.

"It’s all your fault…"

There was no guarantee she’d be able to pull it off…!

"It’s…" She hiccups, the tears streaming even more. "…all your fault…"

There was no time. She didn’t have a choice. It was now or-

"I can’t…"

Wait…

Ruby looks up, seeing the gun drop. Melody wasn’t even looking at Weiss now. Her eyes were now on the baby in her hands as tears dripped down onto it’s skin. Her lip quivered. Her hair hung over her face.

And then… she began to smile…

"Melody…?" Ruby questions, unsure of what was about the happen next.

"Maybe it’s for the best…" she says softly.

"Melody, what are you…"

She lifts the gun…

"Melody…!"

Inserts it in her mouth…

"MELODY!"

And pulls the trigger…

Bang!

As blood sprays all over the wall behind her, Melody falls to the bed, dead. Weiss jumps from the bang, shaking where she stood. Jaune covers his eyes.

"Oh my god…!" Ruby gasps.

And, then… everything fades to black…

3 Days Later…

A light breeze blew. The green grass of the field was slightly moved by the passing wind, the flowers spread throughout the field following suit. Some of the petals detached and were carried off into the orange sky.

Over the horizon, the sun had begun to set, casting an orange light over the city of Vale and the cemetery in it. Thousands of graves spread throughout vast fields. Within this cemetery, not a sound was made, except for the passing of the wind.

Before a smaller grave, a white haired girl sat, her legs brought up to her chest, arms locked around them. Her once bright blue eyes were dull, half open as she stared at the grave before her. On it read the name "Melody Cortez".

"This was really nice of you…" said the red haired girl behind her. Weiss didn’t turn to her. "Building a grave for Melody and her family… I’m glad you did that."

"…No one came…" Weiss says.

Ruby sighs. "My guess is… the people in these graves are the only family she had."

"This wasn’t her family."

Ruby looked surprised at Weiss.

Weiss’ head dips lower. "Just more slaves. They must have formed a bond while they were all in captivity. Melody’s an orphan who’s real parents were killed when she was younger. She was literally plucked off the streets and chained up…"

Ruby shakes her head. "That’s horrible…"

"I requested information on her after the authorities found us and took us in. I figured I should at least known the name of the little girl I let die…"

"Weiss… it wasn’t your fault…"

"You don’t even believe that, so stop lying..."

Ruby averted her eyes to the ground, unable to answer back.

"You knew this would happen, didn’t you?"

Ruby looks back up at Weiss. She sighs. "…I knew it wouldn't end well…”

Weiss sniffles, her head falling lower, shoulders bouncing ever-so-slightly. Ruby looks on with a dim, sympathetic gaze, then turns her look to the side.

"Do you really not believe in hope...?" Ruby perks up at Weiss’s question. "Do you.. Do you really think we're all doomed...?"

Ruby thinks for a moment. "I stopped believing a long time ago. I've seen what we're up against out there. You have, too… We can't beat the Grimm. We can't beat —"

"You're wrong..." Weiss cuts Ruby off. She stands to her feet and turns to the redhead, tears dancing on the rims of her eyes. "You're wrong!" Her lip quivers. "We have a chance! We can make something better for ourselves! We fight for something that is real! We fight for hope! You may not believe it exists, but some of us have to! Some of us need to! Because when we find ourselves in front of a grave like this, that's all we've got! We don't deserve this! A world where orphans get enslaved against their will? A world where we have to face off against those monsters? A world where... where someone like me can be Huntress... just because others are to scared... No one deserves that!" She wipes her eyes of the tears, but that does nothing to stop them.

Ruby looked at a loss for words. She opens her mouth to maybe speak --

"No! No, I know what you’re thinking. ‘I deserve this’, ‘I’m a horrible person’, ‘I brought this on myself’! I know!… And you know what…!" The tears flow. "You’re right… You’ve always been right… I don’t deserve to be a Huntress… If I can’t even save one little girl… What good am I…?"

The two look at each other. Ruby has her arms crossed and Weiss continues to cry before her. Out of impulse, Ruby lifts her hand to Weiss’ face and wipes a tear from her eye. Weiss looks confused but doesn’t move to stop her, letting Ruby continue.

"Don’t cry, Weiss…" Ruby says. Weiss is caught of guard by how small and sincere her voice sounded. "Please don't…" She finishes wiping Weiss’s tears and puts her hand back beneath her cloak. Weiss continues to look at Ruby, not saying a word. "I don't have all the answers. But I know how you feel. I do. Not everyone who goes through what you went through survives. And if they do, they don’t bounce back. But… maybe you can…?"

Weiss sniffles. Her eyes wander to the ground. She shakes her head. "I’m not so sure about that…" She looks back up at Ruby. "Thank you…"

"For what?"

"For thinking I was worth saving… even though I wasn’t…"

“...Jaune came for you first. I just followed his lead."

Weiss, for the first time since Ruby has met her, actually smiles. It’s a small, sad smile, but a smile never the less.

"Yes, well… I always knew he was an idiot." She turns back to the grave and bends down. Bowing her head, she closes her eyes. Her lips move in a silent prayer. Once finished, she opes her eyes, then stands to her feet. "Goodbye, Ruby…" She turns to her slightly. "Honestly… you are the most interesting person I’ve met in this city… take that how you will…"

With those words spoken, Weiss begins to walk away and Ruby watches the back of the Princess as she departs. On one of the roads in the cemetery, a black limousine drives up to meet her. Once it stops, a man who must of been her butler or something steps out of the car and opens one of the doors for her, tipping his hat. Before she enters, she gives Ruby one final look, the two girls exchanging silent gazes. Once the moment has passed, she enters the vehicle and the door is closed behind her. The man reenters, and soon enough, the limousine drives off until Ruby can no longer see it.

Ruby unknowingly sighs to herself, going over the many things that happened in such a short time.

"Wow, she really was a Princess after all, huh?"

Startled, Ruby quickly turns to the voice behind her, alert. Her eyes widen when she sees who was standing there. Her older sister, Yang, stood with her arms crossed over her chest, smirking. Next to her, the familiar black haired woman stood awkwardly, hands clasped in front of her.

"For a second there, it looked like you were actually gonna miss her," Yang says playfully. "According to your diary, I thought you and her weren’t really on good terms."

"Y-Yang…! Blake…" Ruby sputters. Blake noticeably sinks back at being addressed. Then Ruby thinks about what Yang just said. "Wait, Yang, how did…? Oh my god, have been reading my diary? Why would you do something like that? You know that diary is my personal-"

"Hey, sis, yeah, we can talk about that later. Before that, I think there’s something else you should take care of." Yang turns to Blake, who looks at her. The blonde motions to Ruby. "Go on. Don’t chicken out now."

Blake hesitantly looks back at Ruby, who stares nervously at her. Slowly, Blake takes a step forward toward the young girl. Ruby swallows saliva.

"After you came home crying a few nights back, I had a little one on one with your friend here,” Yang says. "To be honest, I was gonna bash her pretty little face in at first. But, she managed to talk me down and we ended up taking care of the issue without anyone having to get smacked. So after that, Blake decided…" Yang stops talking, leading Blake on to take it from there.

Blake swallows saliva in nervousness. "Ruby… I’m sorry…" Ruby looks taken aback. "I’m sorry about everything… I didn’t mean to scare you that day. I just want you to know that I would never hurt you. Ever since that day, I’ve felt miserable about what I did and all I wanted to do was turn back time and take back my mistake. I swear to you, Ruby, I just want to be your friend. I never-"

Ruby shakes her head. “N-No-No, Blake. You don’t need to apologize… I should be the one doing that. I know you’d never hurt me, I just… I’ve been hurt before and… I just wasn’t… I didn’t want to be reminded… I wasn’t afraid of you, I was afraid of… something else… But not you…" Blake looks on as Ruby talks. "It was never you… I want to be your friend, too, Blake. Since the moment I left, I’ve been angry all the time. I wasn’t acting like myself, I just wanted fight, I… I was a mess…" She sighs. "Can you ever forgive me, Blake…?"

Blake’s eyes widen and her mouth opens slightly. But then, a smile grows on her face and her gaze softens. "There’s nothing to forgive, Ruby… I’m just glad to have you back."

Suddenly, Ruby does something Blake nor Yang ever expected her to do. Something Yang truly never thought she’d see again. In the blink of an eye, Ruby had teleported to where Blake was and wrapped her arms around the woman’s torso in an embrace. Yang looked on, not really comprehending what she was seeing. Blake looks back at her, just as surprised. Yang gives Blake a grin then shrugs her shoulders.

Blake smiles and begins to return the embracing, tightening as she got used to it.

"Can we just go back to normal now?" Ruby asks.

Blake nods her head. "…I’d like that, Ruby…"

Yang’s grin grows brighter as she looks on at the scene before here. Quietly, sighing to herself, she says, "Making progress…"

And from here, we fade to black...