Finally, they decided to rest for the night. The sun had already set and they were beginning to stumble around the forest, so Ruby made the decision for them to rest until morning. They found a small enough clearing for them to build a campfire, which Weiss started with a bit of Dust. They all settled down around the small blaze, warming their chilled bones. The weather was just beginning to turn cold.

They made small talk for a while, with nobody mentioning the idea that was on everyone's minds. Both Ruby and Weiss were very subdued, seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, both Blake and Weiss unfurled their sleeping bags and, after figuring out a watch order, they went to sleep.

The two sisters just sat for a while, simply looking at the fire. Ruby marveled at the beauty that could come of something that was so destructive. Or was it something beautiful that had the potential to be destructive?

Yang's voice snapped her out of her reverie, "So sis," She said, "What's on your mind?"

Ruby looked up at her sister, then back down at the flames, "Nothing." She replied curtly. "Nothing at all."

"You were never a good lier, Ruby." Yang replied, "Tell me what's going on."

Ruby looked back up at her and sighed, "What that man said, the fact that he was so terribly misguided in his vision of...I guess...what he thought was freedom." She shook her head slightly, "I just wish we could've helped him more."

Yang took a long look at her little sister before replying, "You're a lot more mature than you look, sis," She answered, "But you need to know that there truly was nothing we could do that could have possibly saved him. You did all that he could've asked for, you heard his dying words. The best way to honour his life is to heed those words."

Ruby looked up at her sister, "In that case, we are gonna find these Jiyū and shut them down."

Yang broke into a smile, "That's the Ruby I know."

LINE HERE

The next morning they awoke bright and early. They quickly packed up camp and continued their journey north, not quite knowing what they were looking for. Even so, they walked. Every so often, one of them would scale a tree and observe the surrounding area to see if they could find something.

After doing this for a few hours, they reached a point where they could see the ocean when they climbed the trees. Nonetheless, they continued north. They reached a point around noon where the trees thinned out and before them was a mighty cliff dropping off into the roiling water below.

"Well," Weiss remarked, "What are we supposed to do now?"

Ruby was just as confused as Weiss, "Let me think for a minute." She looked around, seeing only the cliff stretching on in either direction. She turned around to see only the woods behind them. She rubbed her forehead and kicked a small rock off the cliff in frustration.

A metallic clang resonated from the cliff below.

All four of the girls rushed to the cliffside and looked down. What they saw was a small platform with a ladder leading up to the cliff's edge.

Ruby said, "I think we've found what we have been looking for." She turned to her teammates, "Let's go." She grabbed either side of the ladder and swung herself over the edge, sliding down the ladder. She slid down fast and landed with a thud on the platform, quickly looking up for any danger. Seeing nothing but a metal door next to the ladder, she motioned for the other girls to come down.

Once they had all gotten down, Ruby set one hand on the handle and another on her weapon. She glanced around to make sure everyone was ready before throwing the door open and storming inside.

They all hustled inside to see a wide open cavern that was relatively empty, save for a few boxes scattered about. The cavern extended deeper into the cliff face, gradually narrowing out into a small corridor. Seeing nowhere to go but forward, Ruby led them towards the corridor.

As they approached, Blake spotted a pair of eyes in the corner of the room. She called out a warning just as an Ursa came out from the shadows, taking a swipe at Ruby.

Ruby leapt aside, drawing her weapon as she did, but was quickly drawn off by a second Ursa that came barrelling down the corridor. She fired off a shot that went wide, transforming her weapon into a scythe shortly after.

She fired at the first Ursa, propelling her to the right of the second beast. She took a swing with her scythe, but the confined passageway didn't allow her to get enough force behind the blow. She ended up with her scythe wrapped around the creature's neck. Weiss then came flying at the Ursa, her blade slicing through its neck with ease. Ruby quickly unlatched her weapon, nodding her appreciation to her partner.

She looked over to see Yang ferociously beating on the other Ursa. She moved to help, but Blake beat her to it, whipping her blade around on its ribbon to slice into the Ursa's side. She then fired the weapon, dislodging it from the beast and wounding it further. Yang jumped and, on her way down, she smashed the beast's skull with such force that it shattered, spraying blood along the wall.

They assumed a circular formation, their backs against each other, in the event that more enemies appeared. When it seemed that they were alone, they lowered their guard and stowed away their weapons.

Ruby walked over to one of the bodies and, sure enough, she spotted a blinking red light pointing out of the thing's fur. She said, "It looks like we've got the right place."

Suddenly, from down the corridor, they heard footsteps followed by a slow clapping.