Weiss was awakened by a scream. Slowly becoming awake, the first thing she saw was that it was morning; soft light was streaming in through the window at a heavy angle, pooling on Ruby… Who was laying on her back in a pool of blood.

Blood? Weiss jerked into a sitting position now, and was horrified by what she saw.

Blake was standing in the doorway, backed against the frame with one hand over her mouth, staring with huge amber eyes at Ruby and at the… thing, next to her.

That thing, Weiss quickly came to realize, was what had once been a human body. Now, it resembled something closer to a pile of barely upright red paste, with chunks of white bone showing throughout its structure. And the source of the devastation seemed to be… Ruby.

Lying on her back, knees folded underneath her, she appeared to still be asleep. Her right hand was lightly wrapped around the haft of Crescent Rose, whose blade was laying a short distance from her, closer to the pile of red mush.

Weiss shuddered as she recalled what Ruby had asked her.

"Is that an order to kill him, Weiss?"

Weiss felt herself fill up with horror as she realized she couldn't run from the conclusion she was drawing. Ruby had killed him, but worse still Ruby hadn't just killed him, she had maimed him beyond recognition as a human being.

Blake closed the dorm door and slowly made her way around the grotesque scene, careful to avoid disturbing Ruby and getting any blood on herself. Stooping down by Weiss's bed, she muttered "Yang is awake, she wants to see you two." Glancing back to Ruby for a moment before continuing, Blake looked slightly sick. "But I don't know what we should do about… This situation." She sounded like she chose the last words carefully.

Weiss took a shuddering breath, her chest tightening as she considered what to do. No matter what, Ruby was in trouble. She had committed murder, and worse yet there was no longer any way to prove who's body it was; for all the professors would know, that was some student. If any students were missing, they might try to blame it on Ruby. Weiss doubted something like that would happen, but the thought was still worth taking into consideration.

Weiss turned and climbed out of bed, Blake also standing and backing up to give her room. Whatever happened, Weiss was determined to keep her red partner out of trouble as much as possible.

"I think we should tell a professor about what we've found and request to take Ruby to Yang's room while we wait for them to question her." Blake didn't sound forceful or demanding, but her tone was odd. Nervous, Weiss realized. Blake was nervous about how they would handle the situation. That was perfect for Weiss, as it meant Blake wasn't determined to turn Ruby in.

"Blake, do you think we could cover this up somehow?" Weiss spoke slowly, trying to keep her tone even and calm.

"Why would you want to? We don't even know-"

"We do know, actually. Or at least I know."

"Who is it then? Who did Ruby kill, and why didn't you stop her from doing this… this abhorrent desecration of their body? Weiss, this is, quite frankly, disgusting."

"That body was a man, and he was from the same association who attacked you and nearly killed Yang. I predicted he would come here, and with Ruby, set up a trap. That said, I passed out because of how exhausted I was. I wasn't awake when she did all of this…"

Seeing Blake was sitting on the fence, undecided, Weiss decided to spill her suspicions as well. "I think Ruby is hiding something from us, something she's afraid of. And I think it's probably related to this. Blake, you know Ruby! She would never do something like this!"

Blake sighed, "Fine. You're right, I don't see Ruby doing this if she were in her normal state of mind." Turning to the body, Blake said in a dubious tone, "I don't know how you expect us to clean this up though. And we certainly can't just leave it for later, someone is going to end up smelling it before we get back and peeking in."

Weiss cursed the old fashioned dorm buildings for the umpteenth time since their arrival. Not having any locks on the dorm rooms was so out-dated, and even though crimes were literally non-existent in Beacon there was still something to be said for the privacy that locks provide.

"Well, we can move it into the bathroom for now at least, and clean up the blood…" Weiss trailed off as she realized it would be impossible to clean up the blood easily or quickly. There was a very large amount pooled on the floor, and it was splashed up fairly far on the wall the pile was against, going nearly two meters up and a meter to each side. The sudden thought that Ruby would have needed to be swinging very violently to spread it so much caused Weiss to shudder yet again.

For now though, she would focus on the task at hand. Worry about those other things later. With this thought, Weiss drew two glyphs in the air, both blue and meant to force objects away. Similar to, but much simpler than, the one she had seen in the tunnel. Nodding towards the bathroom door, she asked, "Would you open that?"

Blake complied, then stood back and watched with sick fascination as Weiss shoved the pile of flesh through the door with the wards. After initial contact, the stiffening pile of flesh had mostly fallen apart, and she was basically pushing it along as if her glyphs were snow shovels, working together to move a section of snow. Instead of white powder, though, it was slimy red flesh.

Once the flesh was in the other room, Weiss looked at the bloodstains covering the room. She shook her head at the mess the bedroom was in; Yang's bed, sliced in two by Ruby, still lay in the middle of the room, Blake's bed had a broken post, and there was blood absolutely everywhere. An entire quarter of the room had slashes or trails of the liquid tarnishing it, and the splashes had all already dried in place, ensuring cleaning would be difficult to do, especially without anyone else seeing.

Blake nodded to Ruby. "Should we wake her up now? Or would you prefer changing her out of those bloody clothes yourself?"

Blushing furiously, Weiss moved to wake up Ruby without replying to Blake.


Yang lay in her bed, humming cheerfully. It made her chest hurt to do so, but she didn't let that bother her. She was simply relieved from what Blake had told her; neither Weiss nor Ruby had been injured. Apparently Weiss had been about to collapse with exhaustion, and that made Yang feel a bit bad, but she was still ecstatic neither had been hurt. Sure, the fact that she was in a hospital bed was a bit annoying, but it was at least a thousand times better than dealing with someone else being in a hospital bed because of her.

Plus, now she also had scars on her belly; matching Blake in the creepiest way possible. Yang just felt envious of the fact that the faunus could hide hers; there was no way Yang could go around with her midriff exposed for at least the next few days. Weeks, if she didn't use aura to speed her healing.

Dreading the idea of changing her outfit after being released, Yang was focusing all of the energy in her aura into healing her scars. A somewhat pointless endeavor, since simply swathing herself in aura would achieve the same effect without the mental concentration, but a measure she took nonetheless.

Sometimes its more about state of mind than actual results, Yang thought to herself, grinning as she imagined herself as a philosopher. Besides, focusing on something was better than just laying there.

Her mental drive was broken abruptly as the door flew open, Blake striding in quickly. Ruby and Weiss followed close behind, and Blake closed the door immediately behind them, snapping it shut in as little time as she could manage.

The atmosphere had taken a dive for the worse, that was for sure, but Yang couldn't tell why. Ruby was clutching her dress, Weiss was standing off to one side tapping her foot looking frustrated, and Blake was making her way to Yang's side.

"So, hey guys!" No response. Deciding to try again, she kept her cheerful tone as she asked, "What's up? Ruby? Weiss? Something the matter?"

Blake was sitting by Yang now, and she turned to Yang to quietly say, "We need to have a serious talk about everything that's happened. As a team, without anyone barging out, and without anyone leaving gaps in the story." This last line was directed to Ruby, and in a poisonous tone Yang had never heard Blake use before.

"Hey, easy Blake. Whatever happened, I'm sure we can work it out! We're a team, so don't get too angry too quickly." Yang's eyes darted back and forth between her partner and her sister; Ruby was looking at her boots, and Blake was still staring accusatory daggers at her.

Weiss cleared her throat after a few moments of silence. "Might I remind you, Blake, that the last time any of us rushed to anger against our teammates it didn't end well for us. It put an undue amount of strain on us as a team, an even though we got past our differences, a lot of the pain could have been avoided if some people hadn't left gaps in what they told their team."

This isn't going well. Yang opened her mouth to interject, but Blake surprised her by sighing and leaning back in her chair, rubbing her right temple.

"You're right Weiss. I'm not missing your point, so I'll try to calm down. It's just that… It was very stressful to me, what I saw." Blake had evened her tone out by the end, seeming as calm and collected as she ever did.

Ruby mumbled something that Yang couldn't hear, but apparently Blake could, as her bow twitched, and she nodded, saying, "Ruby, I'm glad you're ready to talk to us, but you'll need to speak up for the others to hear you."

Ruby straightened her back, and looked directly at Yang. She looked sick, but she took a deep breath before speaking.

"Yang, last night I killed someone."

Yang's blood froze.

Ruby committed murder? That's absurd!

Yet Ruby was the one telling her that. Blake and Weiss looked dead serious as Yang looked between them for some sign that it was a joke. There was no reason for them to joke about murder, and they weren't giving any signs that they were, which meant.. Ruby killed someone.

Finally forced to speak quietly through sheer force of shock, Yang asked in a soft voice, "Who was it? How? Why?"

Ruby was looking at the ground again.

"Answer me Ruby." Yang heard her voice crack as she demanded her little sister to explain why she had taken a human life. Yang had, in her furious moments, occasionally considered crossing that line. But she never had, and always feared that one day she would. She had also never even considered the possibility of Ruby taking a life. It was absurd to even think about, to consider.

Ruby was looking at her again. "It was an assassin. The same one who attacked Blake. I don't know for sure how I know, I just do, for sure. I could feel that it was the same guy from the last time. I killed him by… By splitting his skull open with Crescent Rose. Then I… I don't remember it, but I completely…"

Ruby's voice was trembling violently as she struggled to grasp words. Finally she managed to blurt out, "I completely eviscerated him." She backed up and fell into a chair by the wall. "There was nothing left of him but red meat and white chunks of bone." She was clutching her head against her knees now. "And the worst part is… Is that I don't know why. I didn't even want to do it."

She was crying. She started to sob, taking in huge gulps of air. Blake looked pained now, her composure broken not out of anger but sympathy, and Weiss looked like she wanted to comfort Ruby but was holding herself back. Yang secretly wished Weiss would comfort Ruby, but didn't tell the white dressed girl to do so.

Instead she cleared her throat and said, "Ruby, come here."

For a moment it seemed Ruby wouldn't do it. Then she gradually removed her arms from her head, and sat up straight.

Her face was stained with her tears.

Pushing herself to her feet, she made her way, shakily, to Yang's bed. Standing on the opposite side from Blake, Ruby looked like she expected to be hit. Her hands were squeezing each other, pulled in towards herself with her shoulders slumped. Her gaze was no longer locked on the floor, but her head was still down.

Yang pulled her little sister into a fierce hug. She accidentally unhooked her IV in the process, but couldn't care less about that. She didn't care about what Ruby had done either; her little sister had said herself that she didn't know why she did it, that she didn't want to do it. Between that and the fact that she had killed the sick fuck who hurt Blake, Yang had already completely forgiven Ruby.

"Shh. Shh. It's going to fine. You can lean on me, Ruby. We support each other, we always have." Ruby slowly returned the hug, clutching weakly to Yang's shoulders. They remained this way for nearly a minute in silence, Yang feeling Ruby's tears silently forth as her slender body shook in pain.

Yang broke the hug first, unable to keep herself upright any longer. No matter how incredible a job they had done, which Yang didn't doubt it was incredible, it still hurt like hell to use her stomach for anything.

As she fell back onto the bed though, she caught Ruby's right hand with her own left. She was determined to make sure her sister didn't feel alone.

Blake said softly, "Ruby, there's something you need to tell us, isn't there? Something's obviously wrong, and we want to know what."

Weiss added, her tone even and stronger than Blake's, "We want to help, Ruby. We're a team, and you're our captain. Your burdens are our burdens as well."

Ruby nodded. She looked happy now, her cheeks were still stained with tears but she seemed supported by and relieved by the fact that she wasn't without help.

Yang then remembered, finally, what Junior had said.

Quietly, she asked Ruby, "So, what is it? What's up, Ruby?"

Ruby took a moment to reply, seeming deep in thought. When she finally replied, she sounded the clearest Yang had heard her speak so far that night.

"To be honest, I don't know. I really don't. All I know is that the guy who hurt you, Yang, had solid gray eyes, and was incredibly strong. But when I realized it was up to me to protect Weiss while she was treating you, I just felt like all my fear fell away, and I filled up with energy. And I was able to beat him back, keep him away. I was unbelievable, thinking back on it now, I don't even know how I was able to think that fast, much less react so quickly."

Ruby paused, her voice faltering. "He talked a lot. I don't remember most of what he said, but he said I was a coward a few times, and that I didn't understand what I am. Then, he threw me a metal piece he took off of his outfit. When I looked into it, I saw that my eyes were solid white, and I fainted." Ruby's voice trailed off to a whisper as she described her eyes. She seemed on the verge of shaking again, and Yang gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, earning a grateful smile from Ruby.

Taking another deep breath, Ruby continued. "When I woke up, I still had the eyes at first even though I didn't realize it. I was looking around for you, Yang, and Weiss. I was tearing our room up, and it was only when I saw my eyes in the mirror that I started to remember everything. As soon as I saw the white eyes, my own eyes faded back in, and I felt like all the energy I had was just drained out of me."

Raising her now silver eyes to look into Yang's lilac eyes, Ruby continued, "After that, I found this room, where they were getting ready to treat you. After we left, Weiss and I went straight to the dorms, and on the way she told me about how it was most likely we would be attacked again. So we set up a plan that involved me fighting the assassin… But as soon as I realized Weiss was in danger, my mind just went blank. After that, all I remember is hearing Weiss say to get the lights and beat him… Nothing else. I don't even remember killing him, much less maiming him. You have to believe me!" Her voice frantic as she reached the end, desperate for reassurance.

Yang thought about what she had been told. An experiment… An experiment by the Syndicate had done this. They were to blame, not her sister.

Yang nodded, "I believe you. I really do, sis." Blake murmured her assent, willing to believe it as well.

Weiss cleared her throat and added, "When I told you to beat him, the last thing I remember before falling asleep was you asking if it was an order to kill. You sounded like a robot, but I couldn't imagine why at the time. I suppose now I understand that you weren't really yourself." Weiss smiled for the first time since entering the room, a look of obvious relief on her face. "Ruby, I believe you aren't a murderer."

Ruby looked over whelmed. She leaned down to hug Yang again, who was grateful that she could return this one without sitting up. Choked sounding, she said, "Thank you all. So much. I'm so confused and I'm so scared of what's wrong with me. But with you three, I feel like it might all turn out alright."

Blake stood to pat Ruby on the shoulder, only to freeze as her ears swiveled to the door under her bow. "There's someone coming… two people coming, and fast."

Within a moment, all of them could hear the approaching voices. One was a voice none of them recognized, and the other was clearly a frantic Professor Ozpin.

"… IF YOU GO IN THERE-" Ozpin was now yelling at whoever he was chasing after. The source of his frustration was revealed to the four as the door was smashed open. A hulking man in black armor, with a bronze sigil of a blazing eye on the breastplate, sprinted in through the door he had smashed apart with his kick.

Before any of them could react, he had pulled Ruby away from Yang. Grabbing her head, he proceeded to slam her head once against the wall, once, hard. Ruby activated her aura in time to avoid serious damage, but was still evidently knocked unconscious by the massive amount of blunt trauma her flesh was subjected to.

Chaos erupted, or at least it would have if the man didn't immediately take measures to stop it. Blake and Weiss both immediately flew at him, and each were repelled by a single palm blow to the chest, knocking the wind out of them and sending them flying backwards into the opposite wall.

As he turned to leave through the ruined door, Yang tried to sit up again, gasping as her torso protested with a scream. She still managed to force out at a speaking volume, "What the fuck do you think you're doing with my little sister?"

The man glanced over his shoulder, and said, "This room was wire tapped by my order, Miss Xiao Long. Your sister is a threat to the Kingdom of Vale, and I'm taking her into custody. Extreme force was authorized."

With that, the man stepped out of the room, and walked past a furious looking Ozpin, who did not try to stop him at this point.

Yang felt hot tears fill up her eyes as she realized she had just had the most important person in her life ripped away in less than ten seconds in a whirlwind of violence, by someone she didn't know, for reasons she couldn't understand.

Her sister was gone.


I hope none of you saw the ending coming, it was supposed to be a surprise. As usual, please follow/review if you liked it, and PM me any questions.

Also, sorry for this chapter not coming out earlier. School work got pretty heavy for a few days. Will be strictly shooting for one chapter a day moving forward!