Chapter 1 The end of the beginning

Silver eyes tracked the shadowed figure as they slunk down a darkened alley. They watched as the figure pulled the dreaded grim mask out of his bag and place it over his face.

That was all the confirmation they needed.

Silver looked up into blue as the two crouched figures slowly stood and prepared to leap down on the unsuspecting dog faunus. A moment later the shadowed boy with the grim mask stood surrounded by four figures. While the dog boy wheedled around frantically, the ginger of the group knocked upside his head with her giant hammer.

"Jeez Nora, you didn't have to hit him so hard." Sad blue eyes latched onto her manic green. Jaune turned to the shortest of their group. "Are you sure that was necessary?"

Ruby was looking away towards the horizon and the pinkening sky before cutting her silver eyes back to the group. "We wanted as little fuss as possible and couldn't risk him hiding what we're looking for." Her eyes sparked angrily, "Besides, he can report back truthfully now. He was attacked and when he came to, the scroll was gone."

Ruby and Ren crouched down and started rummaging through the boy's pockets.

"Assuming he still has the scroll." Rens quiet voice caused Ruby to mentally stumble.

Nora bounced up behind Ruby. "We know he still has it! Ruby and I watched him use it this morning and followed him aaaaall day~"

Her sing-song explanation didn't ease Ruby's doubt. Ever since she'd woken up, home, with her team scattered, she'd been swinging between doubt and confidence about dragging her friends across the continent to Haven. She knew that if her Uncle Qrow didn't believe in her he never would've dropped the hint about Haven. But thoughts of Pyrrha and Yang kept pushing guilt and doubt into her heart. If she had been faster she could've save Pyrrha. If she'd been smarter she could've figured out what had happened with Yang's battle before her sister had gone into self confinement at Beacon. And now she was partially leading Jaune's team.

Both of their confidences had taken a hit. But Jaune was still grieving over the love of his life, so she stepped into the role of leader again.

Fighting her own self esteem was wearing her down though.

"Ah!"

At Ren's quiet exclamation Ruby focused back in on the present.

"You found it!"

"Shh! Quiet Nora!" Ren turned it on, and when the silhouette of a chess piece came on the screen, they knew they'd found what they were looking for.

"If that information dealer is right, then this is how the White Fang infiltrated Beacon." Ruby glanced at Ren. His lilac eyes held hers as he nodded stiffly. Ruby held her hand out for the scroll. "How close are we to finishing the trans-communicator?"

"Hnn" Ren stood slowly before facing the same sunrise Ruby had earlier. "We can probably get it to run now."

"But?"

Ren looked at the short girl. Her silver eyes burning. "But, when we discussed the radio before, we all agreed it would need a way to bounce our signal so no one could track us. What we're doing isn't exactly legal."

"I remember." Ruby looked at her group. "But we can't risk the White Fang doing a repeat performance. There are other schools and towns that's housing refugees from Vale. We need to get the information to General Ironwood as soon as we can."

Ruby closed her eyes as she rubbed her hand over her face. She was tired of being on the run but they needed to find what they could before getting into Haven. It didn't do them any good to go in blind but they couldn't take much more time.

Ruby sighed, "We'll have to take the chance."

Ren nodded and moved off to the end of the alley with Nora following behind, her hammer swung lazily over her shoulder as she hummed. Jaune turned to stand fully in front of Ruby. His sad, blue eyes stared long and hard into her silver.

"Are you okay?"

Ruby sighed again. "We can't risk taking too much more time." She rolled her head before looking at Jaune again. She lowered her head to rest on his arm. "But we can't risk our safety either."

Jaune ran his hand over her back in a comforting gesture. He often forgot she was several years younger. "It's the best choice we've got." Ruby lifted her head. "And we can all take care of ourselves."

Ruby shook her head. "We take care of each other. That's what makes a team."

Jaune's eyes darkened in sadness but he smiled and nodded.

Together they made their way to the end of the alley.