The markets of Mistral were bustling, busy places. Vendors everywhere selling just about anything one could need. Ren and Nora laughed together, browsing the food stalls hand-in-hand. They radiated an aura of joy and love, something so rare to see at this time. They were seeking out the best ingredients for pancakes. It would be the first time in months that the group could enjoy the treat together. He was determined to treat his friends after all they had been through together, after what they had accomplished. He would get syrup and fruit and the freshest eggs on the market, and he would try to keep Nora from eating them all on the way back to their temporary residence.

Nora had released his hand to wander off and admire a row of cakes and tarts. He smiled at her lovingly and continued to browse the stalls for what he needed. He took a moment to analyze where the rest of his team was. Nora was looking at cakes, Jaune was over by the map stall near the weapon stall where Ruby was browsing. He saw someone approaching Ruby and he watched cautiously, readying himself just in case.

Ruby was admiring the beautifully crafted blades and the hearty stock of ammunition that she was pretty sure wasn't entirely legal. She eyed one of the packs of dust rounds and felt a pang of sadness when she saw the Schnee Dust Company logo. She missed Weiss. They may not have started off on the right foot, but Weiss was her partner. They always had each other's' backs. Ruby couldn't help but wish that her own team could have joined her on this journey.

She shook the thought from her head. She tried not to focus on her friends, even though she missed them dearly. She purchased a couple rounds and put them in her bag then turned to leave. She was startled to find that she almost knocked over an elderly woman in her motion to leave. The woman was very old and frail, her eyes glazed over with a milky white film. She wore tattered clothes and hunch slightly. She smiled at Ruby, showing her few remaining teeth.

"My dear, you have such beautiful eyes." the woman rasped, placing a hand on Ruby's cheek.

"Uh, umm. Thank you, ma'am." Ruby responded, unsure of what else to do in the situation.

"I used to have beautiful eyes too, you know." The woman sighed solemnly. Ruby felt a wave of pity for her.

"What happened?" she asked, heart full of sympathy.

"You did." The old woman hissed. She stood straight suddenly and towered over Ruby. Her eyes became ringed with flames and the disguise disappeared to reveal Cinder Fall, standing before her with her eyes full of hate. She grabbed Ruby by the throat and Ruby let out a yelp.

Jaune looked over to see the source of the noise and dropped the map he had been looking at. He saw one of his strongest and wisest best friends, the brave and strong Ruby Rose, being held up by her throat. Not just by anyone, by the woman who had killed Pyrrha. He jump as he heard a deafening thud and a sickening crunch. Cinder had thrown her down onto one of the tables at the weapons stall. He wasn't entire sure that the crunch had only come from the table. She stood over Ruby summoned a flame to her hand. She leaned in to Ruby and whispered.

"An eye for an eye." Cinder rasped. She let the flame flicker and go, spreading over her palm and then she pointed it towards Ruby who threw her arm up to protect her. Fire spewed forth like the breath of a dragon. It burned Ruby's face and chest. She could feel the wood beneath her begin to take the flames and ignite. She wanted to move but she couldn't. Every time she moved anything she was pushed back harder with the gushing flames. She could smell her hair burning and she could not open her eyes. Suddenly the burning stopped. The heat was still there but the flames weren't hitting her any more. She tried to open her eyes to see what had happened but she could not.

"Ruby, run!"

Jaune called back to Ruby, encouraging her to get away while he strained against shield to block the flames from hitting her. He his shield extended as far as it could. He ducked so that his head was protected from the flames, sadly his feet and lower legs did not fair as well. He kept pushing forward, determined to push her back and protect Ruby. He was not letting this woman take away another person that he cared about.

Ruby began crawling backwards, favoring her right arm. She tried to ignore the raging pain that covered her body and the taunting darkness of faintness that was attempting to takeover. She was sure she would have been crying had her eyes not been so badly burned. She had no idea where to go, she couldn't see safety. She listened. She could still hear Jaune and Cinder fighting and people running in fear, but she could also hear something else. A bird call.

She crawled towards the sound. The bird cawed again and again, each time moving further and further away. She moved to follow it and she realized that it was getting cooler. The bird was leading her away from the fight. Suddenly it stopped crowing and she heard a light *thunk* and suddenly she was being carried. Not long after the call to unconsciousness became too overwhelming and she fell to its mercy.

"C'mere kiddo. It's okay, I gotcha." Qrow whispered as he carried her to safety.

Nora looked in shock at the fight breaking out. Why had Ruby let Cinder get so close to her? She didn't understand. She moved to help her when suddenly she felt a hand grip hers. She looked over and saw Ren pulling her back. She made a desperate face and tugged at his hand but he didn't move. She looked over and saw Jaune protecting Ruby with his shield as she crawled away.

He was pushing forward against the flames getting closer and closer to Cinder. He grabbed for his sword and quickly swung it out under his shield, catching Cinder hard in the leg. She fell back slightly in pain, then brought herself up into the air to rain fire down upon him.

Ren saw a shimmer again and knew that something must have happened. Jaune looked lost and confused and began slashing to his right and his left, leaving him completely exposed to the fire ball thrown at him from above. Ren caught sight of some familiar green hair peeking from behind one of the overturned stalls.

"I will take out the distraction, you know what to do." he said. Nora nodded and they split up.

Ren ran forward to the stall Emerald was hiding behind and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her up to face him. She smiled guiley and then vanished. He heard steady footsteps approaching behind him and he turned to face the real Emerald, tailed by Mercury. Ren readied his weapons only to have them kicked out of his hand. The real Mercury quickly flipped and stood on his hands to deal a solid kick to Ren's face. Suddenly there were dozens of Mercuries. Hundreds. Ren focused hard, shielding himself from their kicks as best he could. He hoped he didn't have to wait too much longer for-

"Kyaahahaha!" *THUMP* *Crash*

The other Mercuries disappeared and cleared his view. His beautiful girlfriend was standing over a now unconscious Emerald, hammer in hand with a proud, beaming smile. He nodded approvingly and then turned back to his opponent. They squared up to fight.

Jaune was hurting and confused. Grimm were surrounding him on all sides, completely unaffected by his weapon. They came out of nowhere, but whenever he tried to fight one off he was hit with a ball of fire. He raised his shield to protect himself and he would be hit lower, or on a different side. Then suddenly all of the Grimm were gone. He looked around and caught sight of Ren and Nora engaging Cinder's cronies. "Thanks guys."

He began to turn to fight Cinder but decided against it. He pretended that he was still under the illusion. He shouted and cowered and raised his shield up high and facing the remains of the weapon stand. He spied a round metal shield, similar to the one Pyrrha had used but polished and silver instead of red and gold. He felt a pang in his chest but he braced himself. If he timed this right, he could have all the vengence that he wanted.

Ren and Nora darted and dashed from his bullets, finding themselves a little outmatched without the element of surprise. A huge cloud of bullets circled around, like the souls of the dead swirling in the abyss. Nora took Ren by the hand and pulled him out of the way of a direct hit. Suddenly, Ren heard something he looked at Nora. "Do you hear that?" She nodded. "Yes"

Qrow ran through the alleyways and empty streets until he reached his destination. He couldn't believe that this was the residence of the last person he could trust Ruby's life with. He shook his head and grinned slyly. "Well the best thing to cure a burn is with something cold, and she's the coldest person I know." He knocked on the door.

"Ice Queen, open up." He begged-ehem- pleaded. Who was he kidding, he was desperate. The door opened a chink and Winter Schnee looked out at him with disdain.

"What is it now." She rolled her eyes. He moved back so that she could see the girl in his arms.

"Help." He said, hating the taste of the words. Her eyes widened momentarily and she opened the door.

She cleared off the table and laid down a towel in the hopes of making the girl a little more comfortable. She motioned for Qrow to put her down and then went upstairs to fetch some supplies. Winter was so calm and calculated when she needed to be, the only exception being when he got to rile her up. He chuckled. Still, he was glad she was willing to help him after how much of a bastard he had been to her. He looked at his poor, burnt niece. He kisses the top of her right hand, the least burnt and broken part of her that he could see. He knew she would pull through, but seeing her get thrown like a ragdoll had brought back too many bad memories. She looked so much like her mother after all...

Winter came back down the stairs with a bag of Atlas military grade medical supplies, a clutch of cloths, and a white nightgown. Qrow smiled, he knew he came to the right place. She rolled her eyes and placed a cool water compress on Ruby's face and chest and grabbed one of her arms. She rubbed very gently at the arm with a cloth in an attempt to remove the pieces of cloth that had melted onto the girl's flesh when she shielded herself. Winter turned to Qrow as she worked.

"Why did you come here, Branwen." She asked sternly.

"Same reason you are, I had classified business in Mistral." He shrugged.

"That's not what I'm asking Qrow. Why did you bring her here, to me. Surely you could have taken her to the hospital or something! I barely have more medical training than you and my supplies are nowhere near as good as theirs-"

"I trust you more than I can trust any of the doctors in Mistral. Especially with Ruby. It's hard to trust anyone any more but I know you care. Hell, you've even saved my life before. Besides, I'm nothing but bad luck. Literally." He huffed, sitting down and taking a much need swig from his flask. Winter nodded with a slight blush but quickly regained his composure.

"I appreciate your sentiment, and I will strive to care of her as best I can." She nodded

"Good, 'cuz I gotta go help her buddies. I'm sure they're doing just fine without me hanging around and holding 'em back. But just in case. I'll be back for her later Ice Queen, I'll see you then." Qrow winked and then slid out the door, headed back into the fray. Winter rolled her eyes.

"Ruby Rose, your uncle is the bane of my existence." she sighed at the girl.

"Yeah, but you seem to care about him anyway. Just like me and Weiss!" the burnt girl responded quietly, causing Winter to jump in fright.

"You're awake!"

Nora fired her grenades at Mercury, then began swinging wildly. He fought her hard, kicking her back towards an alley. She struggled to move forward but it was no use. She swung her hammer back for a hard hit but he kicked her in the chest before she could deliver the blow. She flew back, smashing through a bunch of stalls and landing back in the alley. Ren jumped on Mercury's back while he was distracting but was promptly thrown off and into the alley. They both stood up, walking to the entrance of the alley, hand-in-hand.

"Why don't you two love birds just give up already. Tell you what, if you quit now I'll make it painless. I'll kill you at the same time so you don't have to miss each other." Merc cackled. Ren scowled.

"That sounds lovely and all, but I have a better idea." Nora smiled.

"Oh yeah, I'm all ears." Merc raised and eyebrow. Nora cocked her head to one side.

"I kind of doubt that, 'cuz if you were, you would've seen this coming a while ago." She giggle and decked him in the face, causing him to stumble back. Blood roared in his ears as loud as a nearby motorcycle. Or he had thought it was blood, until the motocycle hit him. He jumped up, a little unsteadily, and prepared to lunge at the pair.

"Why you-" *BAP* The black and yellow ball of metal caught him in the temple before he could leave the ground. He crumpled to the ground.

"Heya handsome, check it out. We're a little more evenly matched now. Oh and by the way…" Yang trailed off looking down at his legs, "I owe you a little something from our last fight." She looked over at an excited Nora with a red-eyed wink and then broke both of his legs, then punch him below the belt, and then in his face. Ren ran over and grabbed Yang's arm to calm her. She blinked for a moment and her eyes changed back to their normal lilac. Nora hugged her.

"Yang! I can't believe you're okay! I'm so glad you're here! You really helped us out." She jumped.

"Hey, no worries. I saw that ass coming up in my line of sight and I knew what to do. The fact that it helped you just makes it that much better." Yang shrugged. Ren stood between them.

"As happy I am that you're back, we should probably help Jaune."

Jaune pretended to be fighting off his fake pack of Beowulves, all the while keeping the reflective shield in his line of sight. He took a couple more hits, but watched carefully as Cinder slowly descend until she was hovering just above the ground. He was sure that her leg must be hurt pretty badly, even with the help of her magic and aura. He moved slightly so that she couldn't see the mirror shield. He heard people approaching but he didn't dare stop fighting his fake Grimm to look at who it was. He heard shouts and snuck a look at the reflection. Cinder had her back to him, focusing momentarily on pushing his friends back. He saw Cinder ignite a flame in her hand, just as she had done before to Ruby. She aimed at Ren and Nora and fired away. Jaune took advantage of her distraction and put his sword in his sheath and activating its broadsword ability.

Nora looked in horror as the stream of fire heading towards herself and Ren and she began to pull him away from the flame. Before she could do that, however, Yang stepped out in front of them to take the blaze. She caught fire immediately. Nora held on to Ren and watched, unable to take her eyes off of her. Yang shot them a red-eyed wink and Nora sighed in relief. "It's just her semblance."

Suddenly the fire stopped. The trio turned around to look at Cinder. She had a dazed, blank look on her face. She was leaning back heavily, rested against Jaune's shoulder. His broadsword protruded from her chest, right where her heart should be. Jaune looked disgusted, but moreso at her actions than his.

"That one's for Pyrrha," he scowled, then pressed the button on his shield to bring it to full size.

"That one's for Ruby." He spit as the shield separated her top from her bottom. Yang looked at him in shock, semblance flaring.

"What about Ruby?"

Ruby woke up again feeling a lot better. The heat from the burns were not as bad now. Winter had run a cool bath for her to soak in and gave her some medicine for the pain. Ruby's left arm had been broken, which was beyond Winter's abilities but she set it as best she could. Ruby was very grateful. She hadn't realized that Weiss' sister could care so much. She was very militant and precise when she spoke, but Ruby could feel how careful she was being. Winter had dried and gently wrapped some of her minor burns and then dressed her in a soft white night gown. As Winter began bandaging the worse burns on her outer extremities, there was a knock at the door. Winter rose to answer it.

"Back already Qrow? I thought it would have taken longer… You're not Branwen."

Qrow flew as fast as he could to help the kids. He could hear shouting and fighting and shooting. He also heard another familiar sound. A motor. Yang's motor. He smiled, then flinched slightly as he saw her run over the silver guy. "That's my little firecracker, always brash and reckless enough to try and save the day." He returned to bird form and perched by the incapacitated pair of henchmen. "Maybe this will be all the help they need from me. Just a little bit of bad luck."

Weiss knocked on the door. She hoped Winter was still there, it had been a while since their last contact. She knocked again and was happy to hear her sister's voice.

"Back already Qrow? I thought it would have taken longer… You're not Branwen." Winter stopped and stared at her sister in shock. She opened the door and beckoned her in. Weiss looked at her oddly.

"Qrow..? Why are you expecting…?" Weiss trailed off as she spotted Ruby laying on the couch, bandaged and burned. She looked at Winter who pulled her into the other room.

"Why is Ruby in you sitting room!" Weiss whisper-shouted. Winter gave her a look.

"Is that how you're going to greet your sister after 7 months of separation?" Winter grinned.

Weiss was shocked. This was very out of character for Winter. She was smiling, and happy, and not in her uniform. She also had Ruby in her sitting room covered in burns and bandages. Weiss embraced her sister and began to tear up, but she fought the urge and looked at her sister, wanting answers.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened myself. She told me a bit of what happened, which is more than her uncle had done. Mostly first and second degree burns, except around her eyes. She can hardly open them." Winter explained. "Now I want answers. How did you get away from father? Why did you leave?"

"Well…" Weiss started, but was soon interrupted by another knock at the door. This time it was Qrow. Winter told Weiss to go in and see Ruby while she spoke with Qrow. Weiss did as she was told.

She crept into the room where her partner was resting. The skin that she could see was burnt and taught, surely rough and thickened from the heat. Her eyelids were scaled and thick, hardly movable any more. Weiss reached for the hand that wasn't in a sling and stroked the back of it lightly. She smiled. She had missed her friend. She looked closely at Ruby. She looked rough, war-torn and battered. Weiss could tell it wasn't all just from this fight either. She couldn't even begin to imagine what she had been through these past months.

"Oh Ruby, I'm glad you're okay." Weiss sighed. The hand she held gripped her own.

"Weiss? Omigosh is that really you?" Ruby asked enthusiastically, eyes squinting open.

"Oh no, I must look terrible. Even worse than I did after we met. Awh man, now you really can call me Crater Face." Ruby sighed.

Weiss smiled but before she could say anything else the room was flooded with people. She was pushed back by a blaze of blonde and she gasped and the sight of an energetic Yang Xiao Long, hugging her sister with two hands. She looked over to the others and saw Jaune, tall and strong and covered in blood brooding in the doorway, waiting to see Ruby. Beside him stood Ren and Nora, lovingly embracing each other. Ren bent down slightly and kissed Nora on the mouth. So much for "not together-together," she smiled in amazement. Everyone has changed so much since the fall of Beacon.

"How much have I missed?" Weiss asked with a look of amusement.