Chapter Two:

Trail


The sound of the ticks of the wall clock echoed throughout the empty house. It only served as a reminder that time moved forward, but she was still unable to move. Her dad hasn't been around since the loss of Yang. She could hardly blame him, as that made three people he held near and dear to his heart, gone. Withered away into to dust they had been born from.

The guilt was over whelming. She questioned herself daily, why? Why was she the only one left behind? Why was her only her, and her alone that had to face Salem? She cursed the silver eyes she had inherited from her mother. She cursed at the world, at Cinder, at Salem. All that they had fought for was for naught. Neither side accomplished a goal, nor gained anything.

Ruby however, lost all that she was. All that she cared for. She knew others were suffering the same as her, but all she could think of was about herself.

The nightmare slowly creeped in. The imagines burned into her mind of Blake being slashed repeatedly. Then her sister, watching her fall.

Her sister was always hot headed, and her death was no one faults other than her own. How could she blame her own sister for her death? But the fact of the matter, she did. No matter how much Ruby had called out to her sister and begged her to stop, it was in vain. Yang had always had a thing for Blake, and seeing her brutally slaughtered by Adam, unable to stop the blade slashing through her had pushed her sister over the edge.

Ruby and Weiss had lived on to see another day, but the scars left on their hearts would remain. Weiss fell in battle a year later, and now that all remained of their team was her.

Even now her pale skin felt scorched from the trickles and splatter of blood from her fallen friends and sister. Even their blood had turned to dust, as they faded away. But the stains remain, burned under her skin.

Ruby sat up, throwing her legs over her bed as she gazed into the mirror. She was leaner, as she lost her baby fat. She had grown a few inches taller, clocking in at 5'6. Her hair flowed down to her mid back. She use to keep it short to keep it out of the way, but there was never time to even take a blade to her hair. Dull silver eyes starred back, black circles under her eyes.

Fatigue. It assaulted her body much like her nightmares. It was another aspect of her life she had little to no control over. She grabbed a change of clothes, and walked towards the only bathroom in the house.


Ozpin stood atop the tower at Beacon, swirling the steaming contents of his mug. The next semester would be starting soon. He sat in his chair, setting his cup down as be began to rub his temples. The war had come to a close, but for how long this time? The cycle seemed endless. Perhaps it was inevitable for the cycle to repeat. The cycle of death and rebirth. Renewal and destruction.

"Come in" He called out to the knocking on his door.

Glynda stepped through the door, and quickly approached his desk, holding her scroll in front of her.

Ozpin took a quick glance, his honey brown eyes widening for a moment. It had been months since Ruby Rose had last been spotted.

"She was spotted within the Hills of Sorrow." Glynda withdrew her scroll as she tapped numerous buttons on her screen.

"Is her current whereabouts known?" Ozpin stood up grabbing his mug.

"There is a trail of rose petals leading away into the nearby forest."

He would be lying if he said he wasn't puzzled. She had been in hiding all this time, no matter how desperately they would search for her, she would never turn up. Now all the sudden, she had chosen to show her face, and more so, give them a trail for others to follow her. What exactly happened that day? More importantly what happened in the following days? He sat his mug down and grabbed his cane making for the door leading out of the tower.

"Professor?"

"The weather is lovely this time of year. I do believe I'll go for a walk."

Glynda took one last look at the image captured on her screen. There were many mysteries behind the disappearance of Miss Rose. She found no fault in his actions in handling the matter personally. She closed her scroll and rolled her in the process. However, she believed he should had sent someone to go scout in his stead as she may had already dropped of their radar once again.