Ruby regained her senses, already standing up straight in a bullhead. Her time guiding Torchwick around the streets of Vale as they looked for Jaune had been a blur, hopefully uneventful too, but somehow she was still fully aware that she, her friends, Torchwick, and his 'friends' had boarded around a dozen air transports and were about to arrive at Beacon Academy, Vale's largest, and possibly only safe zone. The dropships touched down onto the landing zone and Ruby stepped off. It was a straight shot from here to Beacon. It seemed like such a long time had passed since she and Yang admired this same view back on their first day here. She was even further reminded of that day when Jaune came running off the bullhead past her with a hand over his mouth. "There's vomit-boy. I just need to explode to complete the picture." Ruby said as she watched Jaune hurl over the side. Yang came beside Ruby, looking at her rather than the view with a surprised look on her face, perhaps noting that Ruby sounded like herself again.

"I'd prefer crater-face to that eye." Yang mumbled softly. It sounded like something she didn't intend for Ruby to hear.

"The whole city must be here." Blake said, coming beside them. Beacon thankfully looked untouched, but was still hard to recognize for other reasons. Aside from it being nighttime, there were refugees, armed guards, and tents all over the Academy grounds. The place seemed to be quite busy inside and out.

"What is all this?" came a cranky voice, "Explain yourselves!" Glynda Goodwitch came speed-walking toward them, looking as grumpy and strict as ever.

"Just helping some friends in need." Yang said tiredly. She glanced over at Coco as Fox helped her walk by.

Ms. Goodwitch's expression darkened at someone coming behind the girls. "You've got a questionable taste in 'friends'." she said.

Roman Torchwick came walking out of one of the transports and stopped beside Blake with his cane over his shoulder. The security guards aimed their guns at him and he just smiled back. "Alright Red, you gonna' fulfill your end of the bargain?" Torchwick said.

Goodwitch glared at Ruby. "You made a deal with this criminal?" she said heatedly.

"Yes, he is a criminal," Ruby said firmly, acting very confrontational, "but with all that's going on now," she shrugged, "not that important. At least he isn't one of them."

"He's a threat to the four kingdoms just the same." Goodwitch said. She adjusted her glasses as she and Ruby began a staring contest.

"Sure, he's not very nice, but we need all the help we can get. I mean, he's helped us already. Were it not for him, none of us would've made it back." Ruby said. She didn't blink and remained as relaxed as could be. Normally, Ms. Goodwitch's strict gaze would have intimidated her, but after all she had seen in the last few days, it didn't scare her in the slightest. "Your hands are full without trying to arrest him, right?" she added.

Ms. Goodwitch blinked and looked away from Ruby, apparently buying her argument, then studied Torchwick for a moment. "Captain, keep a close eye on this criminal and his underlings." Goodwitch said to one of the guards with her, "Make sure they stay in one group. You and your men are authorized to deal with them should you deem it necessary." She turned and walked away. The guards remained.

Torchwick patted Ruby on the shoulder as he nodded. "Very good, Red." he said with smug satisfaction, "You'd make a great lackey. Let me know if you ever get bored of this noise and I'll let you come work for me." Ruby didn't respond. She just watched quietly as Torchwick and his people headed toward Beacon. Neopolitan gave Ruby a friendly smile and thumbs-up as she walked by.

"I know you made a deal," Blake whispered to Ruby, "but did you have to defend him so intensely?"

Ruby just shrugged. "Hmph." It wasn't that she tried hard. The changes she had been going through just hardened her.

XXX

Beacon's hallways were packed with people. Hunters and Vale's armed-forces walked both ways while civilians wrapped in blankets lined the walls to no end. It was nice seeing that so many had survived. Damn near everyone seemed to gawk at Ruby, specifically at her right eye, as was becoming normal these days. It was times like these when she wanted to have longer hair. Keeping it in the kind of style that covered one eye would be rather nice compared to suspiciously putting her hood up. The girls continued on through the busy academy. There was however one large room they found to be nearly empty. Through the window outside they could see a few people in radiation suits. Ruby could hear the crackling sound that radiation made inside. Also staring into the room was professor Peter Port.

"Umm, professor Port? What are they doing in there?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm?" Port turned his head to look at the girls, or at least they assumed he did with how his eyes always seemed like they were closed. "It's nothing to be concerned about, ladies." he said in his usual booming voice, "We were studying this strange dagger Dr. Oobleck brought back with him but someone accidentally cut himself with it. He… well…" He paused to search for the right words. "He blew up in a fiery explosion. It seemed to have been a small nuclear one too. Most of that room is radioactive now." Ruby made a puzzled look at him. She, along with Miriam, had been stabbed by that same dagger without anything happening.

"So it kills grass and blows people up." Blake said bitterly, "Where does something like that come from?"

"Not from around here." Ruby said.

"Can we just get to our dorm already?" Yang groaned with a hand over her forehead, "We just fought Grimm and mutant cultists for eighteen hours straight without rest! I'm bloody tired here!"

Ruby grinned. "Yeah, that would be for the best." she muttered.

XXX

As soon as the door was open, Blake and Yang headed straight for their beds and lied down without putting on pajamas, brushing their teeth, or even saying a word. The day they explored R'lyeh had been the most tiring day of their lives, but today had shown it up, and then some. Ruby leaned against the door frame and dropped her emotionless face for a sad one. Not that she was the type to bottle up her emotions, she just didn't want anyone to catch on. Once she was sure that her friends were asleep, she would sneak out on them. This might be the last time she would ever see them.

"Hey Ruby." Jaune said. He had his back against the door to his room that faced Ruby's. "Not tired either?"

Ruby gave a squeaky "Nope."

Jaune chuckled. "I never said 'thank you', and I'm not thanking Torchwick, so thank you. Me and Pyrrha owe you big time." he said.

Ruby managed a sincere smile. "Yep." she squeaked.

"I would've thanked you earlier, but you were kind of acting strange." Jaune said, looking off to the side and scratching his head.

Ruby shrugged. "I got a demon in my eye. Yours is just in your stomach." she said.

"About that." Jaune said nervously, "Definitely-not-Weiss gave it to me a while ago. Will I start to-"

"I don't know what'll happen to you." Ruby interrupted, "I don't know if you'll end up like me or if it's something a little different. Only time will tell." She lowered her head in despair. "Once you find out, make the right choice for yourself and your team." she said solemnly. She turned and went into her room. "Goodbye." she said before closing the door.

XXX

Roman Torchwick and his people were given a decent-sized room all to themselves, obviously so that they would be easier to keep track of. They all had to make due with sleeping bags for now, which irritated Torchwick.

"You disappoint me, Roman." said a woman in the doorway.

"Whoa!" Torchwick gave a startled jump. He turned to see one of his old accomplices, Cinder Fall, approaching him. "Hehe… I wasn't expecting to see you here." Torchwick said to her.

"I'm surprised as well, not by the fact you were allowed in here, but that you got away from the Ascended unscathed. If I had to guess, you didn't encounter very many." Cinder said in her usual relaxed demeanor.

"Well what can I say? I always have a plan." Torchwick said boastfully, "It'll take more than that pack of freaky horror-show animals to bring me down."

"Since you fail to realize, the things you saw out there, they're not beasts," Cinder said, pausing to make an amused smile, "they're people."

Torchwick cocked an eyebrow as he put a cigar in his mouth and lit it. "So you know about these creatures too, eh?" he said.

"Secret cults that worship The Great Old Ones and Outer Gods have existed for centuries. I take it you've spoken with one of their members?" Cinder asked.

"Not sure. She didn't strike me as the type to associate with that kind of crowd." Torchwick said.

XXX

Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck zoomed around the lecture hall, his theater-like classroom, as he spoke to military personal seated throughout the room about the creatures laying siege to the city. "The reason why these creatures, which we will refer to as Creatures of Glumm for now, have eased up on their attacks is that they've chosen to prioritize containment of the Grimm for whatever reason. They've clearly been at it since the major breach along the south-eastern side of the city. Most interestingly, they seem to be coordinating over long distances to keep the Grimm away from us. Multiple eye-witness accounts have reported seeing them dropping what they were doing and moving to deal with the Grimm within the exact same minute from opposite sides of the city." Oobleck explained quickly.

"Are you saying that these creatures function under a hive mind?" someone asked.

"The scientific term is 'swarm intelligence', but yes. It is typically where a large group of individuals receive information from a centralized source that drives their decision making. It's meant to provide answers that make mathematical sense to benefit the most members of the group. For the moment we can only guess if the swarm intelligence is a collective conscious or if there is a 'queen bee' among them."

"So what does that mean for us, doctor? Are these creatures mindless as individuals?" another guy asked.

"Far from it." Oobleck paused to take a sip of coffee from his thermos. "I can tell you from first-hand experience that an individual Glumm is profoundly intelligent, at least equal to you and myself. Having a swarm intelligence only means that all the information from every individual is aggregated, distilled so that the group can make better decisions and make them together. Individual bees and ants for example have specific skills and perform different jobs for the colony. Whether the Creatures of Glumm coordinate through telepathy or pheromones also has yet to be explored."

Jaune watched the lecture from one of the doorways at the back of the room. He couldn't sleep even if he wanted to, so he may as well try to better understand what was happening to him. With how bad things were, letting scientists dissect him for the good of the kingdom actually didn't sound that bad. Ten minutes later after the lecture was over, Jaune stopped Oobleck on his way out of the room. "Wait! Mr. Oobleck!" Jaune said.

"That's doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn a PhD for fun, thank you very much." Oobleck said with a finger raised.

"Yeah fine, doctor Oobleck." Jaune said dismissively, "Anyways, you were out on a mission with team RWBY, right? I wanted your opinion on Ruby's… erm… condition. I've learned about all I can from just talking to her."

"Ah yes, the reptilian-like eye." Oobleck said, nodding his head and adjusting his glasses, "It and possibly a portion of her brain have of course been altered by god-knows-what. This is obviously just speculation, but it could be a mutation brought on by exposure to a chemical deployed by one of the creatures or it could even be that a parasitic organism has taken up residence and is steadily increasing its influence."

Jaune cringed as his hand went to his stomach. "I don't think I like either theory." he muttered.

"Indeed. I doubt these creatures would be any less terrifying even if we knew all there was to know about them." Oobleck said with a bit of optimism, "With all that's still yet to be discovered, I'm not going to have any free time for a long time. On that note, I believe I should get going. Good day." He zipped away in a flash.

"Wait!" Jaune shouted, but Oobleck was already gone. Jaune shook his head. He knew that this would be a long shot, but still. He thought of Pyrrha. No, he would never let go of what he had. Suddenly he felt someone gently push him on the shoulder.

"Shove." Cardin said casually.

"Cardin?" Jaune said. Come to think of it, this was the exact spot where Cardin had once shoved him before Pyrrha mentioned that she really would break the bully's legs.

"It really sucks to be in your debt, you know." Cardin said with his arms crossed.

"Don't thank me. Thank Ruby and Coco." Jaune said.

Cardin shrugged. "Alright. At least those two aren't spineless like you or that animal Velvet." he said.

"What do you want, Cardin?!" Jaune said, now angry.

"The thing that killed Russel and Sky!" Cardin said then pointed a finger at Jaune, "You seem to be well-acquainted with it."

"What? You want to get back at it?" Jaune sneered, "Be my guest. Apparently you've forgotten how unkillable she is!"

"'She'?" Cardin quoted, looking amused, "Hah. There's more than one way to get back at someone, you know. Speaking of which, you know what it's after, don't you? I'm willing to guess that you were more than just prey to it."

"Mind your own business!" Jaune said bashfully.

"It was clearly after you and it killed my teammates! I am 'minding my own business'!" Cardin said harshly.

"Do you honestly think that I'm holding back something we could use against her?" Jaune asked with his arms spread out.

"I could tell by the way it moved that it didn't want you dead." Cardin said. He leaned closer, studying Jaune as if suspicious of him. "In fact, I get the feeling that it would be pretty upset if something…" His eyes darkened. "…happened to you."

A stroke of fear suddenly passed down Jaune's spine. "Cardin, you better not be thinking what I think you're… umm… thinking." he said cautiously.

Cardin stared for what felt like an eternity, and then, backed off with his arms crossed. "I just want to know what my friends died for!" he said.

Jaune relaxed, lowering his head in sorrow. "I'm sorry about Russel and Sky, I really am, but I don't know what motivates Miriam." he said. That name, since when did he know the creature's name? Cardin stared at him again. The only word Jaune could think of to describe him was 'unsatisfied'. Finally, Cardin blinked and turned away.

XXX

After Blake and Yang seemed as asleep as one could get, Ruby waited for an extra ten minutes just to be sure, then quietly got out of bed, put on her shoes, grabbed her equipment, and headed out the door. She strode down the hallway, paying no mind to anyone that cringed at her. There had to be someone or something that could help, anything with the knowledge to reverse whatever it was she had, but she knew since talking to Ozpin that it was far beyond anyone… anyone human or faunus anyways. There were experts, or the closest thing there could be, on Cthulhu and his kin. This information had rode in with the changes she had been going through, and if it was anything to go by, these 'experts' had barrel-shaped bodies, starfish-like heads and feet, and each had five eyes, tentacles, wings, feeding tubes, and brain lobes. It was a bizarre image to be sure, though more weird than scary when compared to the sanity-blasting Cthulhu. Maybe she could seek them out? With all that being connected to the Ascended's hive mind allowed her to know, she might even know where to look. First things first though; she had to leave Beacon Academy.

Ruby roamed around the campus, keeping as low a profile as her demon-eye would allow. She considered taking a Bullhead, but quickly decided that she wasn't in a hurry and that the people here needed everything they had. Just walking sounded better. She needed time to think and let what was happening to her run its course while alone anyways. She came outside, walked through the campus, and left the academy grounds without incident. She came all the way to the cliffside overlooking the Emerald Forest, the very spot where she and other hunters-in-training had been launched from at the start of their very first mission, when a voice called out from behind her.

"Ruby!" Blake shouted.

"Blake?" Ruby turned around to see Blake there, panting in exhaustion and looking at her with anger.

"Ruby, don't do this! You can't face this alone!" Blake said shaking her head.

"I'm becoming one of them, Blake! I'm dangerous! I'm a ticking time-bomb!" Ruby yelled, then gave a defeated sigh, "I didn't tell anyone because… because I was afraid."

"You didn't have to tell us. We knew." Blake said more calmly. She put her hands on her hips and started pacing. "We didn't see that it wasn't Weiss standing beside us because we wanted to pretend nothing was wrong. We couldn't make that mistake again."

"So you're just gonna make some other mistake? If you stay near me, I'll probably hurt you!" Ruby said.

"You haven't tried to yet, in fact you've been kind of helpful every time you've changed on us. All three times, you didn't act like a completely different person, but more like a crazy version of yourself. It's like there's a part of you in there still aware enough to keep you from turning on us." Blake said as she walked up to Ruby. She put her hands onto Ruby's shoulders. "Besides, some things are more important than just surviving."

"Some things?"

Blake took a deep breath. "I've seen it many times in the White Fang. People just… fade away when they've got nothing to live for. They die or they lose who they are. I've already lost so much and I didn't have much to begin with. This team is the closest thing I've got left to a family." she said sorrowfully, "If you go, we both lose something important." She and Ruby hugged each other.

"Blake, you're as much as sister to me as Yang is." Ruby said, "That's why I have to…"

"You'll overcome this thing, Ruby. You won't have to face it alone." Blake said. It sure was a weird conversation. Ruby was supposed to be the optimist with Blake being the cynical one, not the other way around. Their embrace ended and they sat down on the grass, both resting against each other's backs.

"Blake, didn't you once read a book about a man with two souls or something?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. They fought for control over the same body? Why?"

"Well, how did it end?"

Blake shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We earn our happy endings. You told me that a long time ago."

"The day we met, yeah." Ruby nodded. She tilted her head up and looked up at the stars. "I told you about how Yang used to read stories for me every night before bed."

"I remember. It was part of why you chose to become a huntress; hoping we all get a happily-ever-after." Blake said with a laugh.

"I always wanted to be just like the heroes in those books…" Ruby said, managing a smile. Her smile quickly faded however. "…not the monster. 'The real world isn't the same as a fairy tale', eh?"

"That's why we're here, to make it better." Blake quoted, "C'mon, let's get back to Beacon." Ruby reluctantly agreed and both girls headed back. The people around campus paid little attention to them, and upon returning to their dorm, they found Yang still lying in bed in a deep sleep. Ruby and Blake wished each other a 'good night' and went to sleep too.

XXX

Ruby blinked, realizing that she was sitting up straight in bed in her padded room. There was a man with a clipboard sitting in a char in front of her. He had been talking to her for a while without her noticing. "-that I understand your psychological need to pretend that you're still a huntress, but this needs to stop! We want to help you and we'd hate to keep you isolated, but you're violent, trained, dangerous. You're the most dangerous patient we have. You've injured doctors, guards, other patients. A week ago you tried to snap someone's arm off."

Ruby didn't say a word. She just drooled as she stared at nothing. Without moving her head, she looked down and saw that there were a few papers laid out on her bed. Slowly, she grabbed one of the papers and slipped it under her bed sheet without the doctor noticing. She didn't know what it could be, but it was better than nothing. Maybe the doctor would come back for it?

"Now lucky for you, the board has decided to allow your friends from Beacon to come and visit you again. Your sister seems to be the only person that you still respond to, we're expecting an improvement in your behavior, hopefully even a breakthrough." The doctor, therapist, or whatever he was explained to Ruby. He looked at her for a while, but she gave no reply. "Well it makes no difference to me whether you heard all that or not." he said. He took his clipboard and papers then left the room. The door audibly locked behind him. Ruby blinked then slowly brought out the paper she had taken from him.

Patient is highly intelligent and highly delusional. Well-trained protege of her uncle and revered huntsmen Qrow. Known proclivity for violence, screaming, pulling on scalp, and mood swings. Shows no remorse for her actions because she denies that they ever took place. Highly developed and fantastical narratives, which preclude facing the-

Ruby stopped reading after that. Dropping the paper onto the floor, her hands trembled as she stared at the padded door. Suddenly she sprang out of bed and began pounding her fists against the door. "I have to get back! I have to get back to Beacon! Let me out!" she screamed.

XXX

To be continued…