Chapter 2: The Prodigy

In her nightmares, Beacon was always burning.

Ruby Rose was in the bleachers at Amity Colosseum when the first bomb had exploded. It was the final round of the most anticipated and followed event of the festival: the Gold-Tier MMA Tournament. The stands had been packed, the energy in the crowd palpable. She watched as Pyrrha Nikos, favorite for the championship and one of her best friends, ended the match decisively. She was waving at the crowd, a smile on her face.

The explosion went off across the colosseum from Ruby. The noise had been incredible, and for a moment, it seemed to her as though the world had ended. Before the dust could settle, panic had set in.

The evacuation was frantic. People were screaming, shoving each other over and trampling on others in the rush to escape. Ruby was buffeted and shoved, struggling to keep her feet as she and the rest of the crowd poured out of the colosseum. She had only had a minute to get her bearings before she felt an arm on her shoulder. Pyrrha was beside her, pulling her away from the crowd as best she could. They were on the edge of campus, and everywhere they looked, the night sky was lit by orange flame. Dark smoke blotted out the stars.

Pyrrha had snapped Ruby out of her daze. "We have to find the others," she could hear her saying. There was urgency in her voice, but her green eyes had been alert, clear. Ruby was so afraid she could barely think. Where was Jaune? Ren and Nora? Weiss? She couldn't remember if Blake and Yang had come to the match. Were they sitting? where the explosion had gone off? Panic made her chest tight and her head was spinning.

Pyrrha had taken her by the hand, drawing her gaze to the older girl's green eyes. "Breathe Ruby, focus. First we find the others. They won't have gone far." Ruby swallowed past a lump in her throat and nodded, allowing herself to be lead back towards the rushing crowd.

Other students, lost and confused, gathered around them, drawn to Pyrrha. She was still wearing her battle gear, her golden metal gauntlets and shin guards reflecting the firelight. She looked every inch a soldier, a protector. They had a moderately sized group when they heard the gunfire.

"There's no more time," Pyrrha had said. "We have to get to the docks, now." Ruby had protested, had tried to stay, but Pyrrha stopped her. "They'll be okay," she'd said. "If we don't leave now, we might not get another chance."

Had she been so calm in life, so resolute and in control, or was it just the dream that made her seem like so much more? Ruby couldn't tell. All she knew was that they were heading for the docks, trying to keep as close as they could to the edge of campus. There were more people now, people in white outfits, their faces hidden by masks. Their uniforms bore the red symbol of the White Fang. Most were armed with bladed weapons, but at least one in every group had a gun. Their shots split the sky and left Ruby's ears ringing.

The docks came into view. A few of the airships had left already, but it was clear why there weren't more in the air. A group of White Fang were nearby, seven of them. Five were armed with machetes and two with automatic rifles. Their group tried to hide, but it was no use. The men started towards them, the ones with machetes rushing them first. Pyrrha put a hand on Ruby's shoulder, steady and strong. When she spoke it was with solemn purpose.

"No matter what happens, get them to the docks."

Ruby protested. Her words were feeble, drowned in fear.
"There's no time to argue," Pyrrha said. "Get these people out of here!"

She ran to meet their attackers. The one in front swung at her, and she caught the blow on her metal armguard, twisting his and wrenching the blade free. The second man tried to stab her and she dodged aside, hitting him in the back of the head, making sure to keep the group close around her so that the men with guns couldn't get clear shots. In the dream, she seemed to move superhumanly fast, the blades of the men missing her by inches as they fell around her in a lethal whirlwind of metal.

Ruby wrenched herself away from the display and lead her group towards the docks. They loaded up one of the shuttles. Before she could get on board herself, Ruby heard the crack of gunfire ring out behind her. She whirled around and saw one of the men grab Pyrrha by the arm. She was having a hard time standing. Without thinking, Ruby took off back towards the fighting. She didn't know what she could do to help, only that she had to try.

Pyrrha was surrounded. Three of the men were unconscious, but another two held her in place, while a third trained his gun on her. She was bleeding from her stomach. As she grew nearer, she looked past the men, straight at Ruby. All the younger girl could think of was how, in the firelight, the red of her hair matched the red of her blood running down and soaking into the grass.

"Run," Pyrrha mouthed.

There was a flash of light. An explosion of sound. Ruby screamed-

-and woke with a start, strangling a cry before it could leave her lips. She could feel tears on her cheeks and she was covered in cold sweat. She took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes, willing her heart to stop pounding. It had been a while since she'd had that nightmare. She thought she might have finally been past it.

With a sigh, Ruby rolled onto her side and stared out the window beside her. She always woke with the dawn. Seeing the first rays of light visible over the horizon, bathing the sky in hues of purple and orange, she started to relax. She could watch the light paint the landscape as she lay in bed, the daylight helping chase away the memories the nightmare had stirred. Besides, in their place there were new fears and new anxieties face. The University of Haven was still new to her, its sprawling campus mostly alien to the young girl. It had been hard enough starting at Beacon two years ahead of the rest of her friends. Then, at least, she'd had Yang. Then, the city of Vale was within sight of Beacon's cliffs. Her island home of Patch was just a video call away.

She was in a whole new world now.

Before the sun could peek over the horizon, Ruby rolled out of bed. She grabbed her running clothes and made her way to the bathroom. She opened the door as slowly as she could, but it squeaked loudly all the same. She winced as it did, the last thing she wanted to do was wake her roommates. Jaune and Nora were both heavy sleepers, but Ren was another story altogether. She slipped inside, locking the door behind her. She splashed water on her face to help rinse the sleep out of her eyes and changed as quickly as she could. Once she was dressed in shorts and a tank top, she poked her head out of the bathroom door.

Sure enough, the door to the balcony was open and she could see Ren's profile standing out in the cool morning air. Ruby grabbed her running shoes and stepped outside with him, closing the door behind her.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" she asked sheepishly as she started unlacing her shoes. Ren smiled at her and shook his head. He nodded back towards the room and Ruby glanced through the window at his bed. Nora had seemingly evacuated her own bed and was somehow sprawled over a good three quarters of Ren's while still managing to wrap every inch of blanket she could around herself. "Oh, I see," Ruby said, stifling a giggle.

Ren nodded sagely before resuming his staring contest with the horizon. He was already fully dressed in his usual white pants and loose-fitting green shirt. His hair had grown out long over the summer, falling down to his waist, though he'd kept the single pink highlight that ran down the left side of his head. It matched his eyes.

Ruby followed his gaze. The people of Haven had built their city, and subsequently their university, high in the windswept cliffs of Mistral's plateaus. The dorm they had been living in over the summer looked out over a pretty severe drop followed by a breathtaking view of the valley below. A river cut through the valley, and along its shores, lush foliage had sprung up, thick and beautiful to behold. All along the walls of the valley, trees twisted out of the rocks, vines growing up their trunks and then seeking a way across the stony surface themselves. They seemed to be begging those with a penchant for adventure to climb them. Yang would have loved it here.

"Nora was having nightmares again," Ren said, interrupting her thoughts.

Ruby bent to lace up her shoes to avoid looking at him. It didn't surprise her. She'd heard her before, and Ruby was willing to bet this wouldn't be the last time either. She would never say anything though. Nora had been hell bent on helping her friends get through the summer, her eternally energetic and upbeat attitude a much welcome respite from the pain and sorrow the attack on Beacon had left in its wake. She'd kept it up all the way from Vale to Mistral, during every leg of their long journey. But Ruby had noticed that she hardly ever left Ren's side. That wasn't too unusual in and of itself, but sometimes she'd see her hold his hand as if for dear life, and sometimes, if he wasn't within eyesight, Ruby would notice a look of sheer panic in her blue-green eyes. Ruby may have been young, but she wasn't stupid. Nora was hurting just as bad as the rest of them.

Beacon University, as well as the University of Haven and other prominent schools around Remnant, observed an old tradition dating back to the huntsman and huntresses of old her uncle used to tell her stories about. Each first year class was given a task, one that would force them to come together, sometimes with strangers, and cooperate, forming groups of four. These groups would be allowed to live together, and partners within that foursome were viewed as responsible for each other's successes and failures. It was a system designed to promote unity and cooperation, to bring people closer together. Of course, not all groups stayed together. Some drifted apart over the years, only checking in with one another on a perfunctory basis as other relationships formed. Others, however, grew into friendships that lasted lifetimes and bonds that could never be broken. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren had been one such group.

Ruby had thought she and her friends would be another.

Ruby stood and leaned against the railing, looking at Ren. His expression was distant, but she knew him about as well as anybody could claim to at this point. She knew that he was the kind of person who could focus all of his attention on you without needing to look at you. She put a hand on his arm.

"Have you talked to Nora yet?" she asked, gently.

The corner of Ren's mouth turned up. "You know I haven't."

"You should," she said simply.

"She knows how I feel," he replied.

"Yeah. And you know how she feels. But sometimes things need to be said to make them real." There was a long pause, long enough for the sun to drift up and perch itself on the edge of the horizon. Ruby withdrew her hand slowly and turned to leave.

"What if I mess it up?"

Ruby paused at the door. "You won't." She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was smiling. She'd seen it before, when he'd first admitted his feelings for the impossibly energetic redhead to her. It was sad, but genuine.

"You don't know that. After everything we've been through together, after Beacon and Pyrrha…" He took a deep breath. "I can't afford to lose her."

Ruby was at a loss for words. She wanted to tell him that it wouldn't matter, that if they loved each other, they would always be there for each other. That they would always be happy. But the words stuck in her throat. She saw her sister's face in her mind, her eyes burning red flames. She could hear the heart-wrenching pain in her voice the night after the attack. "Blake ran."

"Have fun on your run Ruby," Ren said. "Be safe." She looked away, guilty. He was giving her a way out. A way to not have to say what was she was thinking. Sometimes she got the impression that Ren could read minds. She left him alone with his thoughts, closing the balcony door behind her as quietly as she could. She thought she saw Nora move out of the corner of her eye, but pretended not to notice. She snagged her headphones and scroll from her side table and headed outside.

The morning was still cool, the sun not quite managing to burn away the gathered morning mists just yet. Summer was almost over, and in the early hours of the morning it was easy to feel the first fingers of autumn clinging to the air. Classes would be starting shortly, a thought that both excited and terrified Ruby. It would be good to have work to distract her of course, but classes meant meeting new people. Meeting new people meant introducing herself. Introducing herself would draw a lot of questions. She wasn't looking forward to talking about Beacon.

After a few stretches to make sure her limbs were warmed up, Ruby snapped on her headphones and clipped her scroll to her waistband. She started off at an easy jog. She'd made sure one of the first things she'd learned when she came to stay at Haven was the best path from her dorm to the running track. It took her through the heart of campus, a large plaza where a student union, dining hall and library had all been erected. It was from this plaza that the rest of the campus spiraled out. Class buildings formed the next "ring" and beyond that was the dorms. This view of campus was a little simplistic, given the hilly nature of the campus grounds and the twisting meandering footpaths that connected it all together. Still, the lawns, where the rocky soil allowed for grass to grow, were well cared for, lush and green, and there were enough trees to offer students protection from the occasionally vicious noon sun as it beat down on them.

Ruby turned up her speed a little bit, feeling more comfortable with each stride. The rhythm of her feet hitting the sidewalk was comforting, each impact it sent up her leg invigorating. She moved faster, the wind blowing through her jet black hair, moving her legs now in time with the beat of the song she was listening to. Before she'd reached the plaza, she was flying, her legs and arms pumping with practiced ease as she let her body take over, traversing the familiar path on autopilot.

It didn't take her long to reach the track. It was out past some of the dorms reserved for upperclassmen. The campus sloped down here, forming a natural bowl of sorts and the track had been laid out to run around the inside of the bowl's "base." Turf had been laid inside the quarter-mile ring for other use. Mostly field sports practiced out there. The organized sports had their own fields a little further off. As classes had gotten closer, more and more people started showing up at the track. This morning, Ruby noticed somebody had dragged a mat and a pole out onto the turf and were currently in the process of setting up a high hurdle. A little ways from them, a group of students were doing exercises under the supervision of another student with dark skin and blonde hair. There was a group of three people jogging together on the track and a group of four juggling a soccer ball and watching the others practice.

Ruby slowed down as she neared the track. She slipped her scroll off her waistband and pulled up the stopwatch on it. Usually she preferred running trails, letting her feet carry her wherever they may, getting to see all sorts of new sights and sounds. But tracks were easier for timing herself. She made her way to the middle of the straight closest to her. She checked her scroll to make sure it would start timing when she took off, then took a starting position. Twelve and a half laps. She took a deep breath.

And she was off. It wasn't quite the same as before, it wasn't the same sense of flying, unrestrained by any force as petty as gravity. She had to pace herself. She couldn't burn out everything at once. Her breaths were measured and even, her speed consistent, unwavering. She could feel the blood pumping in her veins, the spring of the tartan with each smack of her running shoes. She tried to hold on to that, to the consistency, the comfort in the routine. Each step was one more away from the pain of the summer, each lap was another mile she could put between herself and her memories.

Despite this, however, she found her mind wandering and, as it often did these days, it wandered to Jaune. Hopelessly naive Jaune. He had barely spoken in the week following Pyrrha's death. She didn't know the extent of their relationship, but They had been close ever since their first days at Beacon, and they had seemed to grow even closer during the Vytal Festival.

The two of them had been a study in contrasts. Pyrrha had been a legend, one of the most promising martial arts students Remnant had ever seen and brilliant besides. Jaune… wasn't. However, Pyrrha had been able to see his potential, despite his shocking lack of aptitude for anything academic. With her help, he'd managed to become not only a competent student, but one of the best in the class. She'd even heard that the two had been sparring partners on occasion, though Ruby couldn't imagine that going well for the blond boy.

He'd improved as the summer had gone on, eventually agreeing to make the trip to Haven with her, Ren and Nora, but Ruby still felt like it was her job to be there for him. To be strong for him. For all of them.

Afterall, she thought, who else do I have?

She pushed herself harder, relishing the sweet ache in her legs, letting it force everything else away. She ran from shadows and from memories. She tried to run from pain itself. Faster, just a little bit faster. She didn't care if she burned out anymore. Her lungs were on fire, but still she pushed harder.

Her scroll's alarm startled her and she gradually began to slow down. Twelve and a half laps, done. Her legs hurt and the cool of the morning was fading, leaving her hot and thirsty, but she welcomed the heat and soreness. After coming to a walking pace, she made her way off the track and collapsed on the gently-sloping hill that lead away from the track. The dusty soil managed to support some small amount of grass, just enough to be a tolerable cushion while she recovered.

"Hey, you, first-year. What was your time?"

Ruby opened her eyes and saw the dark skinned blonde girl she noticed earlier standing over her. She wore a black sports bra and matching leggings. Draped over the whole ensemble was a loose-fitting top belted at the waist with red ribbon. It was asymmetrical, with one of her arms left bare.

Ruby had never been good at talking to strangers, and she fumbled a bit as she reached for her scroll. She hadn't actually checked her time yet. "Um, fourteen minutes and, uh, twenty eight seconds."

The girl whistled, impressed. "You do that kind of time a lot?"

Ruby shrugged. The stranger had a very intense look, and the younger girl felt uncomfortably like those golden eyes were evaluating her. "I guess. I only just started timing myself again. I took a little time off from it this summer so I guess it's just been good to get back out there you know? I just really like to run is all…" she trailed off, making an effort to keep herself from babbling on. Fortunately, the older girl didn't seem to care. She held out her hand instead. Ruby took it and made a small noise as she was dragged onto her feet.

"I'm Arslan," the girl said, turning the assistance into a hand shake. "I'm the captain of the track and field team here at U of H. You are a first year, right?"

Ruby retracted her hand and rubbed the back of her neck. "Actually, no, but I get that a lot. I'm a second year, I just transferred to Haven over the summer."

A look of understanding crossed Arslan's face. "I thought I recognized you. You're Ruby Rose, aren't you? You were the youngest person competing in the Vytal Festival Games."

Ruby blushed, staring determinedly at the ground. "That's what they told me."

"That's unbelievable," Arslan gushed. "I knew you were fast, but I thought you were just a sprinter. I mean, I watched you race the four hundred meter, and that was impressive enough on its own, and now you're telling me you can do a 5k too?"

Ruby felt at the moment that she'd trade all her speed for the ability to sink into the ground and disappear. She'd never been a big fan of all the attention she got; she just liked to run. She was good at it. It was Yang who had convinced (read:blackmailed) Ruby to try out for the track and field team at Beacon in the first place. "I just do distance running for fun," she mumbled, kicking a loose pebble aimlessly. "Sprinting is all I ever really did for, you know, the school."

She felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced up. The look she met wasn't one of pity. Or at least, not entirely pity. There was something maternal in the look she received.

"I'm sorry about what happened," Arslan said. "Beacon didn't deserve that." Ruby swallowed past a lump in her throat and nodded. Arslan smiled warmly at her. "But you're here now. Sometimes it's better to focus on what we have rather than what we don't, right?" Her smile was infectious and Ruby couldn't help but smile shyly back.

"That's the spirit," the older girl said. "If you just transferred, you must not know a lot of people here. I think you should come try out for the track and field team. It'd be a great way to meet some new people. Plus, not gonna lie, being able to say I recruited a prodigy for our team would be pretty huge for me."

Ruby blushed harder. "I'll think about it."

Arslan nodded. "We meet here to work out every morning, and we train in the evenings five times a week. Feel free to drop by anytime if you want to get some practice in before tryouts." With another warm handshake, she bid the young girl farewell and headed back to her team, bellowing instructions at them as she went.

Ruby exhaled, feeling an odd sense of relief. She'd made it through an entire conversation with a stranger without embarrassing herself. That must have been some kind of record.

Are you proud of me Yang? I'm trying.

She shifted her headphones from her neck to her ears again and started walking back towards her dorm. She was looking forward to a long shower and maybe, if she was lucky, a stack of Ren's pancakes. The journey back through campus wasn't as lonely as it had been heading for the track. Most of the students had returned already in anticipation of the start of classes, and that meant that even this early, the campus was beginning to come alive. There were already a few dozen students milling around the plaza as she passed through it. Most were heading for the dining hall, though some were sitting on low walls or outside the library clutching paper coffee cups.

Near the library there was a bit of a commotion. A group of girls were standing huddled together giggling to themselves and taking turns shoving their members towards the doors of the building. Ruby altered her path and pulled down her headphones, her curiosity piqued.

"I told you he wouldn't be in there," said a voice with the accent Ruby had learned was associated with Mistral's "high society" crowd. "Since when has Sun ever visited a library?"

"What's wrong with libraries?" another voice responded. "Besides, we've looked everywhere else. Unless you're trying to tell me he broke into a classroom the week before classes start."

Three boys were making their way out of the library doors. Ruby recognized the speakers immediately: Scarlet David with his odd accent and Neptune Vasilias. The third boy was Sage Ayana. All three, along with their friend Sun Wukong, had been transfer students at Beacon last semester, there to compete in various parts of the Vytal Festival Games. Ruby gave a little wave as she passed by.

"Ruby?" Neptune said, walking straight past a girl who looked like she had come up to say hello. "What the heck are you doing here?"

Ruby shrugged. "I transferred to Haven so that I wouldn't lose any momentum while they rebuilt Beacon. They said it was going to take at least a year and I didn't really feel like sitting at home so…" she suddenly became distracted by the half dozen death glares she was getting from the group of girls.

"Really? That's great!" Neptune said with a grin. Like all the members of Sun's group, Neptune was very handsome and almost too charming for his own good. His blue hair was always expertly tousled and he had the kind of smile that made you feel like you were the only person in the world. He dressed nice too, always wearing a tie and slacks, their formality offset by the red jacket he wore with the sleeves rolled up and fingerless gloves that went all the way up his forearms.

Of course, Ruby also knew he was a huge dork. Sun had taken a liking to Blake when they'd first met at Beacon last year, and as a result, Sun and Neptune had spent a lot of time with their group. He tried hard to cover it up, but deep down, Neptune was really just as awkward as Ruby herself was, if not more so. She knew less about Scarlet and Sage, but if Sun spoke highly of them, she was willing to bet they were good people.

"Have you seen Sun anywhere?" Sage asked her. He was the tallest of the group, dark skinned with green hair. He wore his usual outfit: a long white coat with a stylized green pattern on the back and nothing underneath it. Not that he really needed anything under it, Ruby thought feeling her face flush a little.

"Um, no, haven't seen him," Ruby said looking very carefully at his face. Bad thoughts!

"That's so weird," Scarlet said. Ruby had always thought he dressed like a pirate who had access to a high-end fashion store. His outfit was all white with silver fastenings and he had a red coat draped uselessly over one shoulder. His red hair grew long on the right side of his face and was shaved on the left. Ruby was also pretty sure he was wearing eyeliner.

"You don't know where he is?" she asked. Neptune shook his head.

"After, you know, what happened at Beacon, he didn't come back to Haven with us. Said he had something he needed to take care of and he'd see us when school started up again."

"Does he do that often?" Ruby remembered when her group had first met Sun. He'd decided that the official transportation that would bring the students to Beacon wasn't fast enough, so he'd stowed away on a boat instead, arriving alone a full two weeks before anybody else had.

Sage shrugged his huge shoulders. "Often enough. But he's usually more precise about when he will return."

Scarlet nodded in agreement. "I mean, we're supposed to perform at the welcome concert in a few days and we don't have anything ready."

Neptune flashed a panicked look at Scarlet, shaking his head wildly but the damage was done. "Perform?" Ruby asked, glancing between Scarlet and Neptune.

Sage looked confused. "Well, yes. The four of us are in a band. Did… did Sun and Neptune never tell you?"

Ruby looked at Neptune with barely contained mirth in her silver eyes. "He failed to mention it." Neptune's face hit his hand with an audible smack.

Scarlet and Sage looked at each other with matching befuddled expressions before seemingly shrugging it off. "Well, we were going to get some breakfast," Scarlet said. "You're welcome to join us if you'd like."

"Thanks, but I really need a shower before I do anything else."

"Suit yourself," Sage said. The two boys said goodbye and headed towards the dining hall. Ruby noticed the number of dark looks she was getting from the unacknowledged girls behind them had only gotten worse.

"I'll catch up in a second," Neptune called after them before grabbing Ruby's arm and dragging her off around the corner of the library. He turned to face her, his expression deadly serious. "Look, Ruby, whatever you do, you CANNOT tell Blake that Sun is in a band, okay? It's like, the one thing he made me promise never to tell her. I mean, not like he's ashamed of it per say, but it's just, well, it's a little… embarrassing okay? Especially with, um, well, the kind of music we sing."

"Why, are you guys some kind of boy band?" Ruby asked sarcastically. When answered her with a look of deep embarrassment, she couldn't contain her laughter anymore. "You guys ARE a boy band!" she shrieked, holding her sides and howling with laughter.

"Hey, look, people really like our music, alright?" Neptune said defensively.

Ruby managed to collect herself for a moment. "What are you guys called?" she wheezed.

Neptune looked like he wanted a hole to open up in the floor and swallow him. He muttered something unintelligible.

"What?" Ruby asked, breathless with anticipation.

"Sun's Out, Gun's Out," he said louder.

Ruby fell over laughing. Neptune waited patiently until she was breathing normally again.

"If you tell Blake anything about this, I'm dead. Please Ruby, you can't say a word."

That finished off the last of Ruby's giggles. She felt a stab of pity in her stomach, but she wasn't sure if it was for herself or for Sun. "You won't have to worry about that Neptune," she said, her voice small.

He noticed the change straight away. "What's wrong? You didn't come here alone did you? I imagined if you were here, you brought the others too."

"Nope, just me," Ruby said with a smile she hoped was convincing. "Well, I did bring people. Jaune, Ren and Nora."

Neptune's expression shifted to one of pity. "How are they holding up?"

"Good. I mean, as good as could be expecting. We all still miss her." The thought of Pyrrha brought back the pain of the nightmare and Ruby felt her eyes sting.

"Yeah, I can imagine. I wish I'd known her better. She seemed pretty incredible."

Ruby swallowed past a lump in her throat. "She was."

There was a momentary pause. Neptune looked like he was trying to decide if he should do anything for her. She knew he could be kind of hopeless when it came to emotional conversations. She took his hand and squeezed it.

"Hey, don't worry about me. I'm fine, I promise."

Neptune looked unconvinced. "Maybe you should talk to your team," he said. "I mean, they may not be here, but you could always send them a message." Neptune was a nice guy. Ruby knew he was trying to help. She tried to make her smile a little bigger.

"You know, that's a great idea. I'll go to the library later and record something." Neptune seemed to exhale with relief. Remembering Ren earlier, Ruby decided to help him out. "You should go catch up with Sage and Scarlet," she said. "After all, it sounds like you guys need to rehearse."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh ha ha, very funny," he said, but when he said goodbye, he was smiling. Ruby watched him go before settling against the wall of the library, hugging her legs to herself. Suddenly she wanted to be alone more than she wanted a shower or even some of Ren's pancakes.

She was so grateful that he, Jaune and Nora had come with her to Haven, but she missed her team more than anything in the world. She would have given anything to be able to talk to one of them even over a video call. Unfortunately, there were a couple of hurdles to that plan. The first was a result of the attack on Beacon. The Cross Continental Transmit tower there had been destroyed. Without it, communication via scrolls was limited to a local network. The only way to send something internationally was to physically ship it. The postal system was still using its airships, even if they weren't available for personal transportation, but it could still take days to send and receive a recording.

The second reason hurt more though. The truth of the matter was, nobody was talking to Ruby. Blake had run the night of the attack after accompanying Yang to the hospital. Ruby had no idea where she'd gone or why, but her disappearance had devastated her older sister. The two of them had tried to hide it as best as they could, but Ruby had known they'd been involved ever since she borrowed Yang's scroll without her permission. The text message she had accidentally received had practically made steam come out the young girl's ears and left very little question as to the nature of their relationship.

Still, Ruby hadn't realized how serious it was until Blake left. Her usually chipper, energetic and outgoing big sister had just shut down, seemingly overnight. She barely ate, she didn't talk, and she never wanted to leave her room. Ruby had tried a few times to convince her to transfer to Haven with her, but eventually gave up. Their dad, Taiyang, had assured Ruby that she just needed some time to heal, to get used to living with her injury, but Ruby wasn't so sure. When Ruby had arrived at the University of Haven, there had been a message waiting for her from her dad. Yang had left with all the money she had saved up and nobody knew where she was.

Then there was Weiss, her partner. They'd met the day before initiation much to Weiss's initial displeasure. Ruby couldn't say she'd liked the heiress much when they'd first met either. She had been cold and distant, so obsessed with being perfect that she'd snapped at every tiny thing Ruby did. But Ruby had sensed something more to her and through diligent effort, over time the two had become best friends. Ruby couldn't have explained how it happened, or why she'd even been so determined to befriend the ice queen. She just knew that, by the end of their first year, Ruby could have talked to Weiss about anything. She was always there for her in a way that even Yang couldn't always have been.

But after the attack, her father, who had never approved of Weiss attending Beacon University in the first place, had come to take her back to Atlas. Ruby knew that she hadn't had a choice in the matter. Weiss had never made a secret out of how she felt about her father or her life back at Atlas, at least not once they'd started opening up to one another. Ruby just knew Weiss couldn't have been happy where she was. And yet, the she must have sent her partner a dozen messages over the summer without a single reply. Ruby had sent the last one the day before she'd left for Haven, telling Weiss where she could reach her if she wanted to talk. Still, nothing.

That's when the first of the doubts had crept in. Maybe Weiss had never been the friend Ruby thought she was. Maybe she was just somebody she tolerated, counting the days until she could return home to the life of wealth and power she'd left behind. Maybe when she'd gotten home, she'd realized she'd made a mistake leaving in the first place. Maybe befriending Ruby had been a mistake as well.

Ruby buried her face in her arms and sat there, her back against the cool brick wall of the library until she felt like she could walk around campus without embarrassing herself. She wasn't sure how long she sat there for, but by the time she stood up again, the campus was practically teeming with students and she was getting more than a few funny looks from people passing by. She wiped tears from her face and headed back to her dorm, more tired now than she had been after her run.

When she walked in, she saw that Jaune was dressed and helping Ren clean up breakfast. Their room had a ridiculously small area crammed into a corner that could have almost been called a kitchen. It had a really tiny oven with a stovetop anyways, as well as a sink. The two boys were basically arm-and-arm getting things cleaned up, but it didn't really seem to be a problem.

Jaune noticed her first. "Oh, hey Ruby" he said with a wave that sent a haphazard stack of (fortunately plastic) dishes cascading to the floor. Ren glared at him. "Oh jeez, sorry about that," Jaune said sheepishly. Apparently he'd been on the short side most of his life before hitting a massive growth spurt right before he went to Beacon. Now he was tall and lanky, and constantly seemed to be uncomfortable in his skin as a result. Still, Jaune had been amongst the first people Ruby had met at Beacon, and the two had found common ground in the world of being socially awkward. Besides, Ruby liked his eyes. They were very blue, and always kind.

"Did Nora leave any pancakes in her wake?" She didn't see her in the room, which meant she'd probably already headed to the gym. It was pretty much the only thing Ruby could think of that she did without Ren. Something about him holding her back.

Ren pointed to the oven. "I hid a stack from her in there."

"You didn't hide it!" Jaune protested from where he was on the floor gathering dishes. "You told me to guard them!"

"And you did an admirable job," Ren said solemnly.

Jaune grumbled something while he finished re-stacking the dishes. Ruby gave him a hug from behind. "My hero," she said with a laugh before retrieving the still-warm plate from the oven. She poured syrup over them before perching herself on her bed. "So, you guys have anything planned for the day?"

Ren shrugged. "I think Nora said something about exploring the valley. She said most of it while she was already outside though, so I couldn't be sure." Ruby looked at Jaune, her cheeks stuffed full of fluffy, syrupy goodness.

"Same old, same old," he said. Ruby groaned.

"The library again? You know classes haven't started yet, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But I'm not like you and Ren, okay? I'm just trying to make sure I'm completely prepared for this next semester." Ruby glared at him, but it was just for show. She was proud of him, and she knew Pyrrha would have been too.

Ren's scroll started ringing and he pressed the button to answer it. Before he could put it to his ear, Ruby heard a high-pitched squealing coming from the other end, followed by garbled, too-fast speech. Ren regarded the phone calmly. "I'll be right there," he said before cutting off the cacophony. It was a good thing he spoke Nora.

"Looks like I'm being summoned," he said with a sigh, but he was smiling ever so slightly.

"I'll walk down with you," Jaune said, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. When he was halfway out the door he stopped and looked back at Ruby. "Oh, I almost forgot," he said, pulling something out of his pocket. "Somebody came by for you earlier, said he was from the CCT tower. He dropped this off." He tossed her a small chip, meant to be inserted into a scroll. Jaune waved and shut the door behind him.

Ruby set her empty plate of pancakes aside and regarded the chip curiously. It was the kind you recorded messages on, but she had no idea who would be contacting her. She'd only just sent her last message to her father two days ago.

She inserted the chip into her scroll and brought up the messaging app. There was a brief moment while it loaded the file and then - her heart lept out of her chest - she saw Weiss's face appear on the screen. Ruby felt tears in her eyes as she drank in every inch of her partner's face. Her ridiculously blue eyes, her long white hair that Ruby had always been jealous of, even the faded scar over her left eye that was the only mark on her otherwise flawless skin. Ruby thought she had never been happier to see somebody.

"Hi Ruby," the recording said, and Ruby had to keep herself from answering. "I can't apologize enough for not getting in touch with you earlier." Ruby noticed that her expression was pained, guilt plain in her eyes. "I can only imagine what you have been going through. There are so many things I need to tell you, but they can wait. For now, I need your help. I know," she paused and took a deep breath, her voice shaking a little, "I know you may be angry at me, and for good reason. All I can say is that I promise I will do everything I can to make it up to you. If...if you're willing to help me, here's what I need you to do.

"I know it is a strange request, but I need to get in touch with your uncle, the one who was there… that night. This message contains two numbers that have been loaded into your scroll already Take the first number to the CCT tower in Haven, it will put you directly in touch with Qrow. Tell him: "Winter is calling in her favor," and then read him the second number."

Ruby listened, half-fascinated, half confused, but she took it all in regardless. When Weiss was done, she took a deep breath before finishing the message. Ruby couldn't have been sure, but it looked like she was blinking away a tear. "I...I'm sorry again Ruby," the pale girl said. "I really hope I will see you soon, I'll explain everything then. I just want you to know that I...I really...I miss you." She looked away from the camera and rubbed at one eye. "Take care of yourself Ruby."

And with that, she was gone. Ruby sat in a stunned silence staring at her scroll for a few long moments. It almost seemed too surreal; so long with no word from anybody, and now Weiss, looking almost scared, asking her to do things that seemingly made no sense whatsoever. What seemed the most odd to Ruby in that moment, even though she knew it shouldn't, was how Weiss could possibly think she was mad at her. Didn't she realize that she would just be thrilled to hear from her? Ruby shook her head. Like Weiss had said, there would be time to explain. Right now, she was going to help her. That's what friends did.

But she certainly hadn't made it easy. Not that her task would be difficult, it was just that, ever since the night Beacon was attacked, Ruby had been...hesitant to contact her uncle. The festival took place during the last month of classes, and he'd been there for most of them. Ruby had always loved her Uncle Qrow. When she was growing up, his visits had been few, but always memorable. He told her the best stories, of heroes and monsters in a forgotten age. He told her of incredible adventures and fairy tales with magic and good triumphing over evil. The opportunity to see more of him was amazing, and like any good uncle, he'd spent plenty of time with his nieces when he could.

Then, the attack had come. The nightmare from last night rose unbidden to her mind. She saw Pyrrha, helpless as the gunshot rang out. Her body had gone limp. There had been so much blood. Ruby's screams had drawn the men's attention and they turned on her. There was nowhere to run.

Qrow had been there like some terrible god of death. He was tall and gaunt, dressed in shades of black and grey. He wielded a scythe nearly twice as tall as Ruby herself was, the blade viciously sharp and dripping with blood. He swung it faster than her eyes could follow, and two of the men had fallen in four different directions. More gunshots rang out in the night, but somehow they seemed not to affect him. He charged the men, grunting as though he were absorbing punches rather than bullets. Another swing of his scythe relieved one of the men of his arm and his screams echoed through the air as Qrow's blade buried itself in the final man's sternum. Ruby didn't remember throwing up, but she remembered the taste of bile in her mouth as Qrow had lifted her in his arms. He had smelled like blood. The next thing she knew, Ruby was on the shuttle sobbing hysterically as more explosions rang out from the school behind her.

The memories made Ruby's stomach roil and she forced her mind away from them. She hadn't really talked to her uncle since that night. If she was being honest with herself, she was terrified of him, and she wasn't looking forward to having to see him now. But Weiss wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important. She trusted her partner, and she refused to let her down.

Ruby showered quickly and dressed in the outfit that had become her norm over the summer. Yang had always given her a hard time about her fashion sense, but as Ruby adjusted the buckles on her boots and made sure the corset she wore was laced up properly, she admired her reflection and thought she made old-fashion work. As a final touch, she fastened on her red cloak with the hood that she'd had since, well, since Uncle Qrow had given it to her when she was small. It had swallowed her then, but now it hung to mid-calf down her back. Unless she was running, she never left her dorm room without it.

She headed out the door, determination etched on her face. She would be strong for her friends. She had to. They were everything to her.


A/N: This chapter is a little exposition-heavy, but I hope I managed to put in enough character moments to keep it interesting. Leave a review if you have feedback, I'm always looking to improve! Cheers.