A/N: I must apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. After my (failed) attempt at a NaNoWriMo novel, I sorta hit a writer's block, and completely forgot about the story itself until someone recently followed it. We are coming near the end of the story now. Sorry for the wait!

Kuro tapped her foot impatiently as she stared down the line of opponents in front of her. Her current situation was not ideal, but with Ruby being so steadfast in her stubborn resistance to being the parasite's new host she had been forced to take the dangerous approach.

She sighed as she assessed her opponents. Yang would probably be the most dangerous to fight. The parasite knew that family had a way of making a host more resilient to being controlled. Her semblance was also an issue. With her being able to use the force of her opponent's strikes to become more powerful, Kuro couldn't rely on taking her out quickly without risk. On the other hand, if she could push her into a rage her increased power could be nullified by her wild and aggressive demeanour.

Her next biggest challenge would most likely be either Penny or Weiss. The android somehow produced an aura of her own and Ruby had seen her fight to great effect against those rebelling animals. She also had a far greater mass than one would predict from her size, which meant she could easily take the advantage in a head-on fight.

The Ice Queen was most likely the weakest of her opponents in a purely physical combat sense, but her strength came from the versatility of her family's semblance. She had a vast knowledge of dust and her choice of weapon allows her to forgo straight physical strength should the point connect with an unprotected enemy.

The faunus was next in her list. Blake was the most experienced fighter of the students due to her history. The stolen memories of Kuro's host showed that the kitten's semblance made direct strikes more or less pointless and her recent training with Weiss to learn how to better augment her powers with dust made properly quantifying her against her peers difficult. The only reason she fell to the bottom of the list was due to her reclusive behaviour which led to her having a naturally weaker emotional bond with Ruby.

Finally, she acknowledged the eldest of the group. Doctor Oobleck was quite literally a wild card to Kuro's assessment of the group. He was a fully trained and licensed hunter as well as a scholar. Her host had seen little of his fighting style, though he did take out one of those Paladin things with very little effort. He was dangerous, but the parasite had no way to compare him to the rest of the group.

Kuro sighed as the group before her stared her down, "They are waiting for us to make the first move aren't they, Rosepetal?" The parasite mused aloud. "They really don't want to hurt you, I'd wager."

Yang growled in response. Kuro found this entrancing. Her hosts older sister must be so pissed off right now, but she still couldn't bring herself to attack it seemed. The beast stared into the blonde brawler's burning red eyes, "How does it feel to know you've failed to protect your precious little sister? To have let her become the very monster she tried so hard to defeat?" She taunted Yang boisterously, "Sometimes I wonder if you're more of a monster than I am." Kuro laughed joyously at her opponent's rage.

'No...' Ruby thought helplessly, her body taking an instinctive step back in response.

"Ruby!" Yang's shout surprised Kuro until she noticed why. Her foot did not find any ground behind it.

'How did...?' The parasite thought in shock as Ruby fell from the cliff. It panicked and twisted their body around facing the ocean abyss below, "Damn hero types," She muttered as a sharp pain became apparent in the back of Ruby's neck.

'Well, hehe, while you were thinking up a strategy for dealing we my friends, I was moving us closer to the cliffs.' Ruby smiled slightly, 'I was doing it slowly so you wouldn't notice. I... I can't let you use me. Even if it means...' Tears fell from her eyes.

After a few moments, Ruby had expected some sort of response from Kuro, but she became dreadfully silent since they started falling. She flexed her hand curiously before realising something. Kuro was gone. Ruby panicked as she didn't feel the parasite's presence anymore, and she was falling not so graciously towards the sea below.

Ruby tried to call her aura, to cushion the blow when she eventually would hit, but it still didn't respond to her. She realised she wouldn't survive the plummet as tears flowed freely from her eyes. She had failed her team as a leader, she had failed herself.

She felt a tug on her cloak, She twisted herself to look up.

'Penny?'

The robotic girl mouthed something wordlessly through the wind rushing past her ears. She wrapped her arms tightly around Ruby's waist and two of her swords shot out of her backpack almost like grappling hooks. It was so cool. Ruby couldn't think anything but that until a sharp pain rocked through her as both she and Penny stopped a little too suddenly.

Ruby felt like a rag doll that had been bashed against a counter as Penny slowly reeled them slowly up to the top of the cliff face. "My apologies, Ruby my friend, I didn't anticipate the force of the acceleration to be so extreme."

"Don't worry about it," Ruby groaned, "But, how did you catch up to me?"

"Oh, you were mostly horizontal for the duration of your fall, which allowed for more wind resistance and slowed your terminal velocity enough for me to measure an optimal angle to fall at to ensure I did not overshoot and fly past you," Penny answered cheerfully.

It took them several minutes of gentle climbing (Penny wanted to avoid injuring Ruby further) before the two of them made it to the top of the cliff and into the awaiting bear hug of a much relieved Yang.

"Don't ever do that again!" The elder sister chastised the younger, "You can't imagine how worried I was. You could have died and.. and..." Yang burst into tears hugging the now safe Ruby.

"It's good to see you're all right, Miss Rose," Doctor Oobleck said watching the moment, "but Miss Xiao Long, I think you're sister will need air soon or this entire expedition will be for nought."

"Oh, hehehe, right..." Yang laughed nervously as she released her sister.

Ruby gasped heavily for air, unable to say anything. A creeping feeling caused her to look towards the forest.

"Aren't you forgetting someone?"