(A/N)- "If the silence takes you then I hope it takes me too" ~Death Cab For Cutie.

The song Soul Meets Body by the above mentioned artist kind of inspired this story, more specifically this chapter. You can find multiple references to that song within this chapter and those to come. I hope you have a great time reading this chapter. Main character plot armor has been removed for this.

editor's note: really heavy stuff in this chapter, don't say i didnt warn you! enjoy~

Ruby was slowly coming to, her vision fuzzy. She felt strong hands flip her over onto her back, and she was face to face with a blurry helmet. There was smoke everywhere, and there was fire on the ceiling.

"Wake yourself, Ruby, or I will be forced to carry you." Bardach said, shaking her to consciousness. She slowly started to rise.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Ruby took a look around the destroyed hallway. There were a few dead soldiers half buried in the rubble of a door. "Where's Yang?" And then she remembered. "Yang!" Ruby launched herself at the destroyed door, almost burning herself on the fire that surrounded it. She tried with all her might to dig through the rubble, but was again pulled back by Bardach.

He stared directly into her face, his visor raised. Ruby could see grief in the hard lines of his face. "She is gone, Ruby. Now is not the time to grieve. You must remain strong for your team." Ruby replied with a firm but sorrow nod.

Ruby looked around the shattered hallway once again. Donal and Reilly were crouched over Aidan, who was on the floor with his helmet off. Less than a dozen Atlesian soldiers were left alive, the rest had died during the explosion. Blake was sitting against the wall, her knees tucked up to her chin. Weiss was trying to get her to rise, but to no avail. She took a few steps towards her remaining teammates in the corner.

"Blake, are you hurt?" Ruby said to the dark haired girl, who was still cowering behind her knees. The later shook her head furiously from left to right. "Weiss what's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. I think she's in shock. She won't even speak to me. Or get up." Weiss replied, her voice overflowing with poorly hidden worry. Despite her crisp attitude, Ruby could see that Weiss was deeply hurt, but she knew the mission came first. Blake, on the other hand, was not able to manage this.

"Come on Blake, we need to go." Weiss grabbed on to Blake hand and tried to lift her. Blake was barely lifted off the ground before she started shaking her head furiously again, and making a sound that seemed close to a whimper. "Ruby, help me carry her."

Ruby made a move to help pick up Blake, but was interrupted by Donal stepping in front of her. He had blood dripping from his gauntlets, but he ignored it and hoisted the struggling Blake over his shoulder. She was squirming under his superior grip, and was slamming her fists against his heavily armored back in a futile attempt to escape.

"Thanks Donal. We need to get out of here before the building collapses around us." Ruby and Weiss led the way down the hallway cautiously, followed by Donal carrying Blake. Behind him was Bardach, then Reilly helping Aidan, who had a heavy bandage wrapped around his previously uninjured eye. Last was the company of surviving soldiers.

They were just passing the corpse of Torchwick, at which Weiss was staring at wide-eyed, before another explosion erupted from the room he was in previously, along with another explosion below them. The latest bomb threw the team against the wall, and ripped a hole in the floor below them. This one fortunately did not leave Ruby unconscious, but still rattled her brain and made her dizzy. When she got off the ground she saw Donal checking on Blake, who seemed uninjured still. Reilly was helping Aidan back to his feet, and Bardach was checking the soldiers that had died in the second explosion. But there was a severe lack of Weiss among the group. It only took one look below them through the hole in the floor to realize Weiss had fallen through, and was laying in a crater on the first floor, seemingly unconscious.

"Weiss! Donal, somebody, help Weiss!" Ruby shrieked. Donal jolted to his feet, and jogged over to the hole. Blake had taken to cowering on the floor again, but looked up when she heard Ruby scream. Her eyes were wide with fear and a sorrow no one else must've witnessed.

Donal took one look down at Weiss, before preparing to jump down into the hole. Bardach had joined the group again, and upon Donal's leap he screamed out. "No Donal! You are too heavy!" But he was all too late.

Donal made contact with the crater, and immediately it started to crumble, falling down into the deep caverns below Mount Glenn. He rushed to grab Weiss, who was jolted awake, and was scrambling to gain footing on the collapsing floor. Her feet slipped down into nothingness, and she was now pulling herself with her hands, trying to escape the abyss.

Donal grabbed Weiss around the waist, and pulled her up to his chest. The combined weight was too much for the floor below them though, and it immediately stopped its steady crumbling and began falling in large chunks, beginning to take the duo with it.

Ruby heard Donal in her headset, giving grunts of exertion and the occasional swear. She heard Weiss much more clearly though, she was screaming and letting out incomprehensible sobs. Ruby could do nothing to help the two, and that made it even worse.

Donal finally threw Weiss ahead of him down the hallway, to apparent safety. Donal himself slipped and fell down into the darkness, but was able to grab onto the crumbling floor with one hand. He seemed as if he was about to recover, but Weiss tried to help him get up, unknowing that she doomed the both of them.

"Move! Get back, damn you!" Donal shouted, but Weiss didn't seem to get the picture. The entire building shifted on its foundation, making Weiss trip forward head first down the hole. Donal was able to grip her by the wrist, but this only caused the two to fall together. Donal cursed through the headset, while spouting apologizes to both Weiss and his fellow Wardens. Weiss screams died away to the group on the second floor, but Donal was still able to be heard by everyone.

"I'm sorry, Ruby. I tried Ruby, I tried." Were his last words besides a guttural gasp of pain, as his communication went dark, after he assumingly hit the bottom of the ravine.

Ruby could only slump down to her hands and knees, completely speechless. Aidan had broken free from Reilly, and fell down beside her. He was crying, tear drops falling down into the darkness. His tears were pink from the blood running down his face from under the bandage.

"I'm sorry, Aidan. I didn't mean to…" Ruby said through the tears that spilled down her cheeks. She placed a trembling hand on the remaining twin. He shrugged her hand off, and gripped the edge of the hole so hard he broke a chunk off in his hand.

"You…" He coughed, then spit out blood. "You killed him… You told him to help her… And now he's dead…" He spit up more blood. "He didn't have to die…"

"Aidan, I didn't mean to. I swear, I wasn't thinking." Ruby was choking on sobs.

"Oh, I can tell you were not thinking." He got up off the ground, wiped the blood from his good eye, and began walking down the hall towards the exit.

"Aidan, wait!" Ruby began to follow him, but Bardach grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Just let him go, Miss Rose. We should be out of danger now." Bardach took one last glimpse down at the the dark abyss. "There were too many deaths today. Let's try not to add any more to the list."

Ruby heard a verbal flurry of beeps over her radio. Danger. She turned around just in time to be knocked aside by a certain Blake Belladonna, who was sprinting as hard as she could down the hallway, blowing past Aidan, and taking the turn down the stairwell at mach speed.

"Blake! Come back!" Ruby screamed after her friend, but the later had no intention of slowing down. Ruby took off after the raven haired girl, followed close behind by the two Wardens and the other soldiers.

Ruby was the first to reach her. The front door had been barricaded from the inside, and Blake was furiously trying to knock it down. As Ruby reached her hand towards her friend, Blake reeled back and launched a powerful kick straight into the door, bursting it off it's frame. She ran outside, but was stopped in her tracks at the sight of a lone Atlas soldier, standing in a ring corpses, belonging to other Atlas soldiers. along with countless White Fang.

"Soldier. Report what happened here." Commanded Bardach, with the utmost authority.

The soldier cleared his throat, and spoke in a smooth and clear manner of speech. His voice was deep and gravely, and it made Blake's feline ears smooth back, and the hair on her arms to rise. She recognized that voice.

"Sir. My squad was attacked by a force of White Fang grunts. I'm the last one left of Domino squad." He was staring directly at Blake as he spoke, the helmet of his uniform blocked most of his face, but he hid a slight smirk. He carried no service rifle or blade. Instead he had a shotgun with a sword sheathed in the barrel.

"You never reported an attack, soldier." Bardach said, his hand on the grip of his large shotgun.

"The communication chip in my helmet is busted." The man removed his helmet and handed it to Bardach, who began to inspect. In the mean time, the bull horned faunas continued to stare a Blake, who was gasping like a fish out of water. She reached for Gambol Shroud over her shoulder, but only grasped air. It must have been lost in the explosion. The soldier simply shook his head at her. He began walking towards Blake, no one seemed to care enough to stop him.

"R-Ruby." Was all Blake could say, she was in too much shock.

"What is it Blake?" She glanced at the approaching medic. "What are you doing?"

"I'm a medic with the Atlesian Army. Your friend seems in shock. I was only going to take a look at her." He had stopped walking and was holding up his hands in assurance.

"See Blake, he just wants to make sure you're ok." Ruby walked back to Bardach, leaving Blake with her past mentor.

"Please… Don't." Was Blake's only response, before Adam Taurus pulled his own White Fang mask from a satchel on his side. He held it out to Blake.

Blake stared at it for a long time, before she made one of the worst decisions in her life. "No"

"Very well. I love you, Blake."

Adam ejected his blade into the air, all the while he spun and blasted the last two Atlas soldiers that survived the assault. The rest of the squad was spinning around at the sound, all as Adam snatched his falling sword out of the air, spinning around, and driving it home into Blake's sternum, the hilt of his sword meeting her chest. He held her close for a few seconds, before donning his mask for the last time.

A sniper round connected into his right shoulder, taking his arm off. He hit the ground hard next to Blake, a pool of his own blood was flooding the pavement. He was down for only a few seconds before he gave a laugh that filled Ruby with fear. He rose to his feet slowly, ripping his blade from Blake with his left hand. The markings on his mask began to glow. He gave a strong horizontal strike with his sword, causing a blast of red energy to fly towards the group.

Bardach took the blast directly in the chest, blocking it from ripping Ruby to shreds. He fell forwards on to one knee, clutching at his ribs, where blood was beginning to seep through his fingers. The rest of the group had taken cover behind a dumpster during the fight, and was spared of any damage from the attack.

That last attack drained Adam. He slumped down next to Blake, before he let out his last breath and expired. His injury finally caught up with him. Ruby had reached Blake before Adam even hit the ground. Bardach was cared for by Reilly, and Aidan was calling for a medic. From what Ruby heard, Adam had told the Bullhead pilots that everyone was out, and that he and Domino squad were staying behind on clean up. They had unknowingly left them for dead.

Blake was somehow still grasping at blade had made a clear cut completely through her, missing her heart and lungs. The blade had broken her spine though, as such Blake was completely paralyzed from the incision down. She could still move her arms though, albeit with excruciating pain, and she was using the last of her strength to hold Ruby's hand.

"Yang… Yang?" Whispered Blake, holding Ruby's hand all the tighter.

"No, Yang isn't here anymore." Said Ruby, whose tears were falling on to the pavement beside Blake.

"Weiss… Weiss please."

"Weiss isn't here either." Reilly had finished with Bardach, and was now crouching next to Blake. trying to stem her wounds. Blood had begun trickling from the corner of Blake's mouth.

"R-Ruby. I'm sorry Ruby. I'm… Sorry. I'm… I'm…" Blake hand went limp in Ruby's palm, which caused Ruby to squeeze it tighter. Her tears had stopped falling, Ruby had cried herself out over the last half hour. Reilly placed his gloved hand upon Ruby's shoulder.

His tinted visor raised in a quick click, and he mouthed words to her while a voice like that of Bardach's played in her head set. "If the Darkness takes you, may then it take me too." He removed his hand from her shoulder, and closed Blakes eyes with a slight motion of his fingers across her face.

Ruby heard multiple sharp cracks from above her as six gray airships like those she had never seen seemingly flashed into existence. These ships were obviously way more advanced than a simple Bullhead.

Multiple dark shapes started falling from the ships. As they hit the ground she saw that they were more Wardens. Five. No, ten. Twenty? Thirty? They all hit the ground with a crack, rising up with rifles on shoulders. Three of them grabbed Bardach, and using the jet packs on their backs, lifted him up into the sky to the waiting airships. Another two grabbed Aidan, and he too was lifted up and up, into the sky above. Reilly was tossed his own jet pack, and he too flew into the ether. When it came time for Ruby, a Warden comparatively smaller than the rest approached her, and they too placed their hand on her shoulder. Their visor was raised to show a great deal of freckles, along with deep yellow eyes that reminded her of Blake's. She spoke in a feminine voice that took Ruby aback. "If the Darkness takes you, may then it take me too."

Every Warden in the lot turned to look at her, and all twenty raised their visors simultaneously. "May then it take me too." They all said in a solemn chant.

All in an instant Ruby was whisked away into the night sky. She saw from afar as Blake was picked up bridal style by a single Warden, and she too was brought upwards.

When Ruby reached the hull of this advanced airship, she was met with an almost empty ship. Bardach had already been taken away to the medbay, and Aidan was on his way there at that moment. But he stopped in the doorway, and repeated what the Wardens had said below. "May then it take me too." He then continued into the hallway. Ruby was there with a somehow even more quite Reilly, and the ginger Warden that had lifted her to the ship.

Reilly was leaning against the wall of the ship, he had removed his helmet and weapons. His weathered face showed signs of grief, and his eyes were hidden behind his eyelids. He opened them finally and looked at the Warden girl.

"Hey brown eyes." Said the lady Warden. Ruby had finally noticed Reilly's eyes, and they were truly the brownest eyes she had ever seen. Like dark chocolate. "What's the deal?"

Reilly held up his index finger, then gritted his teeth and clenched his fist into a white knuckle grip. "Oh. Donal. I can't believe it…"

At that Ruby stormed out, almost running into the automatic door as she was walking faster than it could open. She had to get away from whatever she was gonna say. She had to find somewhere she could cry alone.