Ruby stood on the edge of Mountain Glenn, after 3 days of hiking through many miles of forest, with nothing but Crescent Rose on her hip, 4 magazines for her weapon, a sleeping bag, some food, and Cain to keep her company. It was a dangerous way to get there, but it was better than taking the now infested tunnels that she went through on the White Fang train. Days of sleeping in trees have left her aching and longing for a solid night of sleep on something that wasn't bark. She gazed down an empty street of the failed city expansion, taking in the scenery. She could properly take in the sheer amount of despair that reeked through the broken city. Ruby looked over to an abandoned playground, and walked over to it. As she got closer to it, she swore she could hear the laughter of children on the swing, and young lovers talking to each other as they sat on the bench.

This place smells of death and hate. You want to hide? This is the place to do it.

I can see why, since it's CREEPY AS HELL. We shouldn't be here, but I guess I'll take it.

Then let's find a place to hole up, somewhere high.

With that, Ruby strolled down the road, always alert for any Grimm she may come across. The road was cracked from so many years of not being tended to and the majority of buildings have either fallen over or have caved in on themselves. Large, faded bloodstains lined the roads and footpaths from the many people who fell to the Grimm during their escape. As Ruby looked on, she realised how much death occurred here. She felt an overwhelming amount of despair, and threw up.

Ruby felt a sharp pain in her stomach; and she looked at her vomit and saw blood.

That can't be very good.

It must be the strain of the overwhelming emotions from just being in this place. If you want to survive here, you must strengthen yourself. This place could consume you if you don't strengthen your will. There is no shame in going back home to your friends and family. I'm sure your sister must be going mad from not knowing where you are.

Ruby cringed at the thought of what Yang must be going through, as it has been a few days without contact. But she realises that she has Blake and Weiss to help calm her, since they are the voice of logic and reason within the team.

No, I am not wanted there anymore, and I will only find myself as an outcast if I go back. I must press on and face whatever may lie within this city, so I may stay here until I sort... whatever this is, out.

*sigh* very well, but don't push yourself. I don't want to know what this place would do to you psychologically. Let's just find a place to stay, preferably high with a view.

And so, Ruby pressed on through the dead city.

Yang has not been faring well the past few days, and Blake and Weiss were very concerned that she may do something very irrational soon. Blake has done her best to help Yang calm down and convince her that Ruby just needs space and that she will come home, but as the days dragged on, Yang has become more depressed from blaming herself from the events that transpired 3 days ago. To say Yang's temper was bad would be an understatement, and her distress at not even knowing if her little sister was fine, has been making it worse.

Yang was currently staring out a window in one of the towers of Beacon Academy, staring out at Vale, as if searching for Ruby from there. She focused on one of the many streets that line Vale, and could see the little specs of people, so many of them.

Any one of those people could be Ruby... If I hadn't pushed her, she wouldn't have left, and everything would be fine... DAMN IT!

Yang punched glass causing it to crack and almost shatter.

"Blaming yourself and punching things isn't going to do anything you know. Believe me, I know from experience." Yang turned around and saw Blake standing behind her with two cans of Soda in her hands.Yang sighed heavily as she sat down on the ground, leaning her back against the glass of the window.

"Yeah, well I can't help it if I feel useless at the moment. Ruby's been missing for three goddamn days, and I have no idea where she went or would even go. And it damn well IS my fault because I pushed her too far and did something I shouldn't have, and after that meltdown she had, I bet my life savings she has gone back to the girl who feared even being looked at by other people."

Blake sat down next to Yang and handed her the drink.

"She used to fear even being looked at? That's not exactly normal." Blake replied with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yup, I needed to nudge her a fair bit just to go out and just say, "Hi" to people. It took a couple of years, but she eventually made a very small group of friends at school and they went to Signal together. I told you about when Ruby came to me after her first encounter with Weiss, right?" Blake nodded slowly, now understanding.

"That really pushed me to get Ruby to talk to people here in Beacon, especially now that she can't really go see her friends she left back in Signal, and because she needs to learn to interact with new people, and not just her scythe. Her extreme social anxiety started to resurface after her not very friendly first encounter with the ice princess, but she has gotten significantly better since she met you, and had a proper talk with Weiss." Yang lowered her head and sighed.

"And now that she would be subjected to what the rest of the Faunus are put through, you think she has gone back to a completely anti-social person that fears other people? That, coupled with Weiss' racism towards Faunus, also with the fact that she was brought into the Faunus life during a very delicate and emotional stage, this will not go down very well. If this is the case, then we need to straighten out Weiss before we bring Ruby back." Blake said with determination in her eyes. Yang sighed and rubbed her face with her hands, and groaned.

"Why not do both at the same time? Ruby is very good at hiding when she wants to, and it would probably take longer to find her than it would to settle Weiss' opinion." Blake, knowing there was no arguing against Yang and the fact that she did have a point, sighed and nodded.

"Alright, let's come with a plan then."

After an hour or so of searching, she eventually came upon a tall and bland looking apartment building. Ruby walked up to the main door and slowly opened it. Shattered glass lay all over the cracked marble floor, and the air was thick with dust and god knows what else. She slowly walked through the corridors, with Crescent Rose at the ready in case something attacks her in such a confined place. Ruby looked around and found the stairs, she started ascend the large flight of steps, with only the light shining through the windows to guide her way. She felt many strong emotions wash through her as she realised that she was the first person in many, many years to pass through here, where people used to live. Ruby eventually settled on an apartment within the top floor of the building, facing the street, and the door still somewhat solid. The room was still in a somewhat decent condition, there was no mess from someone trying to get away. It was a small apartment, large enough for only one person, maybe two if you really wanted to. There was a small kitchen, a couch, table, a basic single bed and a balcony that looked over the city. The room was actually preserved rather well; despite the many years, the expansion of Vale was still sitting here in ruins. The dust was minimal, and various photos and art around the room still had a decent amount colour left on them.

She set down the bag she had on the table, and walked out to the balcony and peered into the city. She could see blurry outlines of Grimm in the distance but wasn't worried about them since they are far away. Dusk was upon her, so Ruby decided to get some much needed sleep on a proper bed, so she locked the door to the room, lied down on the old mattress, and left her precious scythe in one hand by her side in a position so it could easily and quickly aim at the door in case a Grimm decides to come after her while she slept. She shut her eyes, letting sleep come to her quickly.

A/N: Heya all. Terribly sorry for the ridiculous wait from the last chapter and I realise that this chapter isn't exactly long, a lot of my time is being consumed (Which will continue until the 2nd of February, but I will do my best.) and my imagination sucks at the moment, but I have come up with some ideas as well as received some sweet ideas from some awesome people who want to help with this story, which hopefully I will end up with some pretty sick story stuff, so I'm excited for that.

I would like to get as many people involved in this story as I can, so if you have any suggestions, ideas for the stories, anything like that, or you just want to chat about anything you want, feel free to PM me. I also have some room for a couple more Beta Readers so if you're keen for that be sure to hit me up about it.

Many thanks to my Beta Readers: DV330, LordOda, Minesniper and MrStark357. You guys are absolutely fantastic in helping me not suck with things like grammar and ideas for the story.