It had been a week, and Ruby Rose's life was starting to fall back into a regular routine.

She wasn't on night watch tonight, so Weiss would be over and the whole team would hang out, just like old times. She'd even allowed her Aura to heal her entirely after her surgery, so for all her threats of "wearing it like a badge", the outward signs of her recent struggles were mostly invisible to the world.

Yang, meanwhile, remained as great with kids as Ruby remembered, and had made an excellent playmate for Violet. Both Ruby and Yang were scheduled to start therapy next week, and Yang had remained sober the whole time.

Blake… hadn't quite returned to how affectionate she was before, but it was closer. She was trying, right? That's all Ruby could ask. There was still distance, but it was no longer an unbreachable wall.

And reconnecting with her teammates was wonderful, even if it cut into time she would otherwise have been spending with her work friends. Jaune and Pyrrha would understand.

Yeah, Ruby had fallen into a hole she'd dug for herself, but she was climbing out of it. And she was going to come out of it stronger than ever.

Right now she could only smile as she listened to Weiss go into another anecdote.

"Okay, so Yang's on the Sphinx, right? And I'm on the giant Nevermore." Weiss said. "So she yanks up right as I stab into the wing and they…"

Weiss stopped. She blinked a few times, as though she were very confused.

"Uh, Weiss?" Ruby Asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Um… what?" Weiss asked in a daze, blinking once more.

Then flames shot out from the sides of her eyes.

Oh no.

Oh no no no no nonononononono!

"Weiss." Yang said with rising concern. "Your eyes are on fire."

"What?!" Weiss repeated, with a hint of panic.

"Weiss, I'm sorry." Ruby said quietly. "I'm so, so sorry."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked, her voice cracking.

"Ruby, what do you know about this?" Blake asked, her voice picking up the panic from everyone else in the room.

Ruby whipped out her scroll, and pushed it into Weiss's hands.

"I'll explain later." She said. "But I need to take Weiss somewhere. Right. Now. Don't wait up."

"Ruby." Weiss and Blake both said at the same time. Weiss's was a question, filled with fear. Blake's was a command, to stop and explain at least a little bit.

But Ruby didn't have time. She scooped Weiss into her arms and blasted off in a spray of rose petals.

"Call Pyrrha and hold the scroll up to my ear." Ruby commanded as the wind whipped past them.

"Ruby, why-"

"Just do it!" Ruby ordered more forcefully.

Weiss complied, and Ruby counted the rings.

One.

They were moving dangerously fast, but it was necessary.

Two.

Weiss had no idea what she was doing, and…

Three.

If Weiss's power exploded like Pyrrha's had at the Battle of Beacon…

Four.

Weiss really needed to be somewhere safe.

Five.

With someone who could help her control it.

"Mmmyellow?" Pyrrha's voice sounded groggily over the speaker.

"Pyrrha. You need to get to the vault as soon as you can." Ruby said.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" Pyrrha said, apparently shaking off the sleepiness.

"I'm carrying the newest Maiden there. Winter." Ruby said, conveying a whole lot of information with just those few words.

"Oh. Oh my gods!" Pyrrha said quietly. "I'm so sorry. I'll be there soon. How is she holding up?"

"Fine for now." Ruby replied. "Just hurry."

"Of course." Pyrrha said, and Ruby heard the call disconnect.

"Ruby, what's happening?" Weiss asked.

"I'll explain soon." Ruby said.

"Ruby!" Weiss said, louder.

"I'll tell you just as soon as I can, okay."

"Ruby, why did you apologize to me?" Weiss voice cracked. "What's going on?"

At this point, Ruby had to dodge a bolt of lightning that struck the path just ahead of her.

"Weiss, please." Ruby said. "Just try to remain calm, or we might both get hurt. It'll all make sense soon."

Her former partner was breathing hard in her arms, but doing a good enough job of controlling her breaths to stop herself from hyperventilating.

Ruby tore into Beacon's CCT tower. Rather than take the elevator, she kicked open the loose access panel that was put in place just for her and Pyrrha, and dived down the shaft. Winds whipped within the confined space as Weiss began to panic again, but they were here.

Ruby dashed into the middle of the large, open space, and skidded to a stop, setting Weiss down gently.

"Ruby, where are we?" Weiss asked as the ground beneath them grew slick with ice.

"We're in the vault under Beacon." Ruby said. "I need you to stay calm, okay? Just listen to my voice, and breathe."

The ice began to recede.

"Weiss, you just inherited some magic powers." Ruby explained, focusing on keeping her voice even. "Like, magic-magic. Not like a semblance. No dust or anything. It'll be a bit dangerous until you learn to control them, so I took you here. Someone is on their way to teach you, so it won't be long."

"Pyrrha?" Weiss asked between breaths. "Is that… why… the dragon… exploded?"

Weiss was asking about the Battle of Beacon. Shrewd.

"Yeah." Ruby confirmed.

"I thought… that… was weird…" Weiss said. There was no ice, or wind, or lightning. She was successfully calming down. Weiss took one last deep breath before speaking normally.

"So why did you apologize if I'm getting awesome super powers? Was it because Pyrrha burned you?"

The bandaid needed to come off sometime. Weiss was calm now, so maybe it'd be okay.

"Weiss." Ruby said solemnly. "These powers… they're inherited from someone. Someone who would think of you in their final thoughts. There's only one person it could be. I'm sorry but… your sister. Winter. Winter is dead."

"No." Weiss said, eyes welling with tears. "No, no, no, you're lying. You're messing with me. This is just a bad dream I'll wake up from. It's not true."

"Weiss…" Ruby reached forward to provide a calming grip.

"No!" Weiss screamed. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The searing pain across her body told Ruby that this was not as okay as she'd hoped.

It didn't last long before a gust of wind tore into the Vault, and Ruby was blasted safely away from the lightning surrounding Weiss.

"Weiss, listen to me." Pyrrha said. "I know it sounds weird, but right now, you're probably trying to pull it back. But that's not going to work. Trust me. You need to push it out. Pushing out is how you make it stop."

Weiss sobbed and struggled with the instructions, but after a few agonizingly long seconds, the lightning faded away. Ruby rushed in and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, which prompted Weiss to pull her into a death grip of a hug.

"No." was the only thing Weiss could say, and she repeated it. Softly. She repeated it for the next hour. All Ruby could do was hold and comfort her friend.

Which left Pyrrha standing there awkwardly, wearing a Pumpkin Pete shirt that was probably Jaune's, at least as far as Ruby could see. She probably had underwear on, probably.

A few minutes later, Jaune arrived via elevator, carrying a bag with a change of clothes for Pyrrha. Pyrrha had most likely flown here wearing what she could most quickly find lying around her bed. Fortunately, she moved fast enough that no one was likely to have seen, at least not in the dark.

The point of Jaune bringing her clothes seemed to be lost on Pyrrha as she changed right in the middle of the vault.

Oscar arrived next. He had a quiet conversation with Jaune and Pyrrha as they waited for Weiss and Ruby to end their embrace.

"It hurts so much." Weiss finally said, breaking her everlasting string of "no's".

"I know, Weiss." Ruby said. "I know."

It was a few more minutes before Weiss finally released Ruby.

Ruby cleared her throat, and gestured towards Oscar.

"Um… Weiss, this is Oscar. But you might know him better as… Professor Ozpin?"

Weiss shook her head.

"So, what, that yarn Yang spun was true?" She said.

"Not exactly," Ruby said sheepishly. "But… pretty much. Welcome to the Ozluminati."

Weiss looked around, and a spark glinted across her face. Hope.

"Well, if he can come back, Winter can too, right?" Weiss demanded. "How do we get Winter back?"

Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged a look.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that." Oscar said. "We can't just bring back whomever we want, or I'd pick people who are... better than I am. I am unfortunately the only one here who reincarnates, because I was cursed by the gods. I will continue to be reborn until I complete the task I originally failed at, saving the world from Humanity's greatest threat: The master of the Grimm, named Salem."

"Oh." Weiss said as the hope died in her eyes.

Ruby took Weiss's hand between her own. She needed Weiss to know that she was not alone.

"This is just all… very very much." Weiss said, falling to a seated position on the floor, which took Ruby down with her.

"It's okay, Weiss." Ruby said. "We'll get through this. We always do."

"It doesn't feel like I will." Weiss sobbed, laying down and curling into the fetal position at Ruby's side. "It feels like I'm the one who just died. Why couldn't… why couldn't have been me instead of Winter? She's so much better than me!"

"Weiss," Ruby said softly, rubbing her warmer thumb against Weiss's hand. "Winter was a wonderful person, but you are too. We care about you, Weiss. We all need you too."

Weiss choked out a hollow, almost mocking laugh, that echoed around the massive space before dying in oppressive silence.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew." Weiss sobbed. "If you knew how I… how I lured your sister in under false pretenses. How I played with her heart, and kept her around despite hurting both of us. How I deserved to be punched that night. How I goaded her into it. How I wanted her to do it. How I wasn't even that drunk, and just left my Aura down on purpose so I'd finally have an excuse to be rid of her. How the whole time we'd been together, I'd been wishing she was someone else. How I'd been wishing I was with-"

"Weiss." Ruby cut her off. "Please. None of that will stop me from thinking you're wonderful. You're my teammate, my partner, and my best friend. I love you! You're practically my sister!"

Something about the end of that sentence made Weiss's mood drop perceptibly, and a new, more intense round of tears began with a wail. Perhaps Weiss was having trouble with the fact that Ruby wasn't visibly mad at her about all that?

"Weiss, it'll be okay." Ruby added calmly. "I'm here for you."

Weiss was unresponsive. The intense sobbing continued for a few minutes before sputtering out, and Weiss's breathing slowed. Ruby gently checked on her, but Weiss seemed to have passed out.

Ruby glanced at the nearby trio, who were still waiting patiently, but had all taken seats on the floor.

"I need to go home and talk to my wife and sister." She said to them. "Tell them… tell them something."

"How much did they see?" Oscar asked.

"Just the flaming eyes." Ruby said.

Oscar pondered, and sighed.

"Maybe it's time we let those two in on the secret." He said. "We've been dancing around the issue for you for so long, and I can see the toll it's taken. It certainly won't get easier if we also have to cover for Weiss, as well, and I can't see how telling them would make it worse."

Ruby sighed.

"Okay." She said. "Just gotta tell them about this big secret war that I've been hiding from them for almost a decade. No pressure."

"It'll all work out fine, Ruby." He said. "I probably should have just trusted your team from the beginning."

He offered that sadness-tinged smile he often had. The one that told the truth about how many mistakes he'd made.

"Alright." Ruby said. "I'll tell them, then bring them back here. I'll be back soon."

With that Ruby was gone, leaving only a trail of rose petals in her wake.