RWBY: Silver Eyes

Volume 1: Arc 2: Lessons

Chapter 10: Calm Before the Storm

"I have learned now that while those speak about one's miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more."

-C.S. Lewis

The sun was setting at Beacon Academy and the Kingdom/City of Vale. Ruby was currently in her dorm room, dressed in pajamas so as to get a few hours of sleep before doing a shortened version of her nightly routine; probably just some light stretching and exercises, because the next day was the field trip to Forever Fall forest. The trip was put together by the ever not in class Professor Peach, who was also not going to be attending, and apparently that meant that Professor Goodwitch would be presiding over them. If there was one thing that Ruby learned was that Goodwitch did not appreciate her sleeping habits, so it would be best to get some more sleep in tonight.

Her team, however, had other thoughts on their minds.

"Sooo." Yang drawled, swinging her legs back and forth from atop her bunk, "Anyone else notice how awkward things have gotten recently?"

"You mean the behavior of JNPR, Jaune and Pyrrha particularly." Blake not so much guessed as stating the obvious; she was currently reading a book, something not unusual at all, truly earning the 'book' part of Ruby's moniker for her.

"I've noticed that he's been fraternizing with Cardin and the rest of his team." Weiss informed, crossing her arms with a frown, "I don't like them."

"You don't like anyone." Yang pointed out.

Weiss glared at the blond for that, "That isn't true."

Yang pointed a finger at her, "You say that, but you give such a mean look while doing it. Come on, that isn't very Weiss of you."

The metaphorical tumble-weed went through the now suddenly silent room.

Ruby grabbed a nearby coffee mug and threw it at her older sister, "Booo. Try harder." She ignored the sounds of protest her sister had at having objects thrown at her and caught the mug as it was thrown back at her.

"…Isn't this getting off track?" Blake pointed out, not one to actively engage in banter but rather try to quickly snuff it out.

"Right." Weiss admitted, "Him and the rest of his team's recent behavior has been rather… distant and volatile."

Ruby began throwing the mug in the air and catching it like a pencil or coin, "Pyrrha is clearly bothered by Jaune hanging out with CRDL, and Ren and Nora seem out of the loop and don't know what to do." Ruby hadn't revealed that Jaune got into Beacon with fake transcripts. Maybe if he was anyone else, but Ruby had an interest in Jaune – she had a feeling that with enough training and maybe some more self-confidence he could be the hero he claimed to want to be.

Hanging out with Cardin was definitely not going to help in the confidence department.

Either way, it wasn't her business to rat out Jaune; besides, he was a friend.

Ruby was brought out of her thoughts as her team continued conversing.

"Why would Jaune hang out with Cardin anyway?" Yang questioned, "It's clear that even now that he is bullying Jaune."

Blake theorized, "Cardin could be intimidating Jaune into submission, he is a better fighter than Jaune and it is right up his alley as a tactic to gain unwilling followers to do his things for him."

"That wouldn't explain why Pyrrha is upset with him though. If Cardin was forcing Jaune in any way his team should be willing and able to get Cardin to stop." Weiss countered.

"Jaune has some issues he is dealing with," Ruby began, "You all saw how he reacted to when he was being bullied before – he completely denied it."

"Right." Blake confirmed, "Jaune refused to admit to Cardin's petty bullying before, it would make sense for him to not go to his team now. Pyrrha may just be getting frustrated that their leader is, well…"

"Not being a good one." Weiss finished coldly.

Ruby gave Weiss a disapproving look, Weiss defended herself, "What? Am I wrong?"

Ruby sighed, "Troublesome… True, their entire team is on the brink of collapse."

"We have to do something about it then!" Yang declared, "We can't let them tear each other apart because they are all stubborn!"

Yang had paused, expecting everyone to quickly agree and was surprised when the rest of her team was just staring at her, "What?"

Blake raised an eyebrow, "You? Calling someone else stubborn?"

Ruby pulled out a kettle from… somewhere. "Pot, meet kettle, it says you're black."

Weiss worriedly glanced at the kettle, concerned as to where that kettle came from and why Ruby had one, "Yes, quite hypocritical coming from the person who refuses to cease making those egregious puns of yours despite the anger of the entire school."

"Aw Weiss," Yang whined, "why do you have to be chilling with your comments? I can really feel the cold shoulder you are giving me.

"Okay," Ruby quipped, "That's it. I'm done. It's time to stop. We can deal with JNPR after the field trip. But I just can't right now. Everyone. Sleep. Now." Ruby loved her sister dearly, but she could only handle so many bad puns in a row.

Yang crossed her arms and legs, "I refuse!"

Ruby slowly turned toward her sister, "Then. You leave me no choice."

Yang grinned, "Oh? And what are you going to do about it little sister?"

That grin left her face as Ruby suddenly vanished in a swirl of red rose petals. Yang paled as she noticed someone behind her, "Oh no." How did someone get behind her without the bed shifting? It was suspended by pulley's for fucks sake!?

A whisper came from behind her, "Oh yes."

Yang ever so slowly looked behind her, and there was Ruby - a dark aura surrounding her presence, a creepily large smile on her face. Ruby raised her hands, fingers open, "Die."

And with that Ruby unleashed an unholy barrage of… tickles. But this was not a normal tickle fight, this was one waged by potential Huntresses, one of which whom had a speed semblance – something that Ruby took advantage of, using miniscule activations of her semblance to speed up her fingers and thus tickling power. An ability she had recently been able to experiment with thanks to her accumulated hours of training.

Yang was powerless in the face of such power.

She was sent into uncontrollable squealing and laughter, "Ahaha! P-please! S-s-stop! I-I beg-g of y-you!"

Ruby continuing her onslaught, grinned, "'I refuse!' That's what you said right? I would say that it seems appropriate!"

Yang, desperate for allies called out, struggling for air at this point, "B-blake! W-w-weiss! Ahaha! Please! H-help me!"

Blake inched her book up higher so her eyes weren't visible, "Sorry, I'm almost done with this chapter." Considering Blake was on the bed below the two of them and thus not visible, made her attempts to hide herself rather irrelevant, but she did it regardless.

Yang blanched animatedly, "B-betrayel!" How could her partner leave her to the dogs?!

Weiss crossed her arms, looking up and away, "As if I would engage in such crude methods of conflict."

Yang blanched animatedly, "S-so heartless!" …this was normal Weiss behavior, so not very surprising.

Her friends leaving her to her fate, Yang had to face Ruby's assault alone. After a minute of tickling and struggle, Ruby decided to stop – the end result being Yang laying down on her bed, cheeks pink at having been partially suffocated and breathing deeply in exhaustion. Ruby ended up positioned during the struggle atop her sister, pretty much straddling her elder.

"There." Ruby began, "do you concede?" She put her fists on her hips as she looked down at her elder.

"I-" Yang began, but was interrupted as Ruby bent over and looked her right in the eye.

"Choose your response carefully." Ruby warned, "Because I drink milk."

Yang sweatdropped, refusing the urge to point out that wasn't much of a threat, "I-I concede."

Swiftly Ruby leaned back up with a smile, "Good!"

Ignorant of the blushing faces of the other two people on the room or how their position looked, Ruby jumped off of the bed. She looked at them, "And why aren't you too asleep yet?"

Weiss deadpanned, "You expected us to fall asleep with that scene and racket? You fiend, you just want another target."

Blake was too busy hiding her larger blush, and possible nose-bleed, behind her book to bother responding – taking advantage of the fact that such ignoring of a question from her wasn't that surprising.

"Hmph." Ruby hmph'ed, neither confirming nor denying Weiss' deduction. "Well then we are done now. It's sleep time. Time for sleep."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Then turn off the lights, you fiend."

And with that the nightly antics were over, Ruby turned off the lights and like everyone else went to bed.

But Ruby wasn't so quick to actually fall asleep, and instead fell into her thoughts.

Internally she sighed, yet smiled. Was this how friends were like? It seemed like it. She and her team got along, engaged in banter – usually at Weiss' expense – and was getting more and more in sync during team exercises in class. She was still rather new with it all, her house on Patch wasn't quite near other homes and when she got into school at Signal she quickly was alienated from other students.

And sure, her current relationship with Yang now was completely fine, but it wasn't always that way. After the incident, Yang as well as Dad had gotten rather clingy, Dad for almost losing his daughter so soon after losing his second lover and Yang because she blamed herself for almost getting her killed. Dad… well he is still clingy, even now sending daily text messages. But Yang had, at least, toned down her overprotective nature – though it took almost a year for that to happen. It was still overbearing at times, however.

They spent a lot of time together during elementary schooling, but Yang had made a lot of friends and would at times spend it with them. This was something that Ruby didn't mind much at the time as it got her some moments away from her overprotective sister and more time to read and thus learn on being a huntress. Not that this was something she announced to her elder sister; she kept her actual training for during nighttime, this being the original reason for her different sleep cycle, so as to be able to train without her father or sister's knowing.

But anyway, Ruby didn't have any friends in elementary schooling since she only cared about reading and because all the other kids were immature and childish. Kids stayed away because her increased intelligence and above average maturity was off putting – the other kids simply couldn't understand or connect with her, she was too different. However, in spite of what children usually do when confronted with someone different than them, bullying wasn't a thing because Yang was quick to put a stop to it – and as imaginable resulted in many detentions.

And while Yang toned her overprotection down a few notches, she wasn't keen on Ruby being a Huntress either, so when she and her father ganged up against Ruby when Ruby came of age to attend Signal – Ruby was understandably pissed and frustrated, when despite her arguments they continued to deny her goal and desire.

Ruby had then stormed off, the seemingly illogical behavior of her family combined with her frustration about the whole situation, making the mistake to go out and train while her family was still up and about.

Though in some ways it was a mistake it was also a good convenience.

13 year old Ruby was in a field a few miles from her cabin house on Patch, with her was the second incarnation of her grand design Crescent Rose. Qrow was a great teacher, even if he was busy with teaching at Signal and spending most other free time on a mission or out getting drunk. Qrow was the kind of lazy ass that would send training instruction's to you through your scroll and somehow know when and how much you slacked off – or maybe he just wasn't ever satisfied.

Ever since she was eight Qrow had started to ramp up her physical exercises from outside the realm of just stretching and reading. Despite the onset of puberty and thus the increased development of muscle tissue, it was quickly clear that Ruby was going to be more of a speed type fighter, one who deals lots of damage but moves out of the way before being able to receive any. It was Qrow that informed her of other benefits and fighting styles; such as –thanks to her keen eyesight and aim– that with enough stealth she could make an excellent sniper, after all, a sniper has to move around a little to avoid being detected. He also was nostalgic as he stated that it was important to be able to fight from multiple ranges of attack.

So that lead to her scythe/customizable high impact sniper rifle, Crescent Rose, this was her second design, adding some of the latest updates in mecha-shift technology as well as various adaptations to see how well she favored them.

The sniper aspect of her sweetheart still had the classic bolt-action firing mechanism, but she added a switch to change to semi-automatic fire; Ruby was a good shot without having to look down the sights, but if she wanted to look down the sights she would have to stop moving, prop the gun on her arm or something else for stability, and then remove that hand to load the next round. It was inefficient. With the semi-automatic firing mechanism, she could fire more rounds, with more precision from using her scope, and easier mobility – the obvious con being this mode required less punching power and less momentum boosts as well as the increased chances of a jam.

She had also increased the durability and length of the scythe blade, as well as a smaller secondary blade on the opposite side of the pole-arm. However, this required more stability and thus made the weapon heavier. Maybe if she used a lighter-compound? But that would decrease the durability of her precious in general. Oh! She also added a feature that would lock and unlock the scythe blade in place, taking advantage of the mecha-shift already in the area so that she could convert the scythe into a sort of spear – potentially useful in certain situations that may cause tension to the blade, like impacting a target that the scythe can't somehow cut through, or just generally if she needed to stab something but didn't have the space to swing. Further advances in mecha-shift would really help; maybe she should try to design some? (1)

Ruby sighed. She knew she was trying to distract herself, she knew that she shouldn't be out training while her family was still awake, but it was just so irritating that after 9 years they couldn't let the incident go. Ruby couldn't help but acknowledge that they had a right to protest, not just because of familial love but they didn't even know she had been training. So it made sense for them to not believe she was ready or capable, but it was still beyond frustrating.

Ruby paused in her thoughts, 'Was that a twig snapping?'

Lo-and-behold, a figure emerged from beyond the clearing that revealed a very much familiar blond, moving a branch out of the way that caused her to delay in seeing her younger sister, Yang questioned, "Ruby? Is that you? I wanted to apologize for getting so heated earlier. What are you doing out here this la…te." It was at the end of her sentence that she noticed the huge scythe and other various signs that indicated the uses of that field.

Yang looked back and forth from the scythe to the girl. "Ruby… what is this?"

'Damn, busted.' Ruby sighed, "Troublesome… This is Crescent Rose Mk. II, finished her up a few days ago."

"Don't mess around with me!" Yang shouted seemingly angered at the nonchalant response, "Don't you know how dangerous scythes are?! There's a reason the only person I know of with a scythe is Qrow!"

Ruby activated the mecha-shift so Crescent Rose would compact itself, "Yes, I am quite aware. Qrow made sure to make me aware of the weapon's lethality as he taught me how to use it."

"Taught you…?" Yang mumbled to herself taking in the information and processing it, "When would he have?"

"He's been sending me and leaving reading material since the incident; physical training instructions after I was 8, basic combat at 10, and how to wield a scythe with a side of swordswoman-ship at 11 – just shy of two years ago." Ruby didn't feel the need to hide it anymore, Yang already caught her and you can't just write off a mecha-shift weapon, something closely aligned with Hunters.

Yang clenched her fists, shaking slightly with anger, "Why! Why would he force you being a warrior to after everything that happened that day!?"

Ruby closed her eyes and sighed, before dramatically opening them, "Because I asked him to, because despite your and Dad's best wishes I want to be a Huntress no matter what. That is why I have gathered knowledge behind your back and trained during the night, taking naps during the day."

Yang's eyes widened in realization, but then tilted her head forward, her hair shadowing over her eyes, "I can't believe this. Just like Dad, you've lied to me for so long."

Ruby knew of what Yang was talking about but put that aside, "Maybe you and Dad have a point," she admitted.

At that Yang snapped her head to look at Ruby, her eyes clearly red with fury, "What!?"

"Maybe I should just sit back and live an easy life surrounded by loved ones. Hell, even Mom in her journal wished I wouldn't become a Huntress."

Yang's eyes widened in surprise and confusion, 'Mom, Summer, left a journal?'

Ruby continued, "She wrote about her life and about the original fairy tales – ones that weren't toned down with happy endings that given to children."

Ruby straightened her posture, confidence exuding in waves, "She looked at the world and said, 'Bloodshed gives way to more bloodshed, hatred breeds more hatred until all of the violence soaks into the land like rivers of blood.' Still, she saw light in her friends and teammates, and she had hope that things didn't have to be this way. That civilization - that people can change. I'll complete Mom's dream, become strong, and change this world into something that Mom could love, even if the change is as small as a grain of sand."

Yang shook in place, perhaps conflicted between anger and understanding, but she settled on the former, "You know I can't accept this betrayal. You are going to go home, stay safe, and leave this world and our other mom to me – even if I have to drag you back kicking and screaming."

Ruby looked sad at that for a moment, but then frowned, resigned. She reactivated the mecha-shift of Crescent Rose and with a twirl slammed the blade into the ground before her. "And when Dad sees me beat a student that has gone through half of their initial combat training, he'll have to acknowledge my skill and desires. And you will either help me fight against this world or leave me to my own devices."

Yang's response was to immediately activate Ember Celica and glare, her hair instantly combusting.

Ruby looked back nonchalant on the outside, sad at having to do this to her sister on the inside, "Come. I'll defeat you without dealing a single blow."

That did the trick and the beyond furious Yang leap forward with a blast of her weapons to attack. Ruby was ready.

The following fight was unfortunately quite one-sided, Yang simply didn't have the speed to hit her younger sister and her rage-induced attacks were sloppy and left openings that on any other opponent Ruby would have taken advantage of – thanks again Qrow – assuming that Yang was a normal opponent. Yang hadn't trained with Ruby at all and didn't know her speed semblance or her speed and fighting style in general – the opposite was not true. But Yang overall was a special case, in which that any damage she received she could send back in full at her opponent – a testament to her personality of taking on what the world had to throw at her, that she would throw right back it. But there was a vulnerability in her style, if Yang couldn't hit you with fists or dust rounds – you would take no damage – and if you dealt no damage she couldn't use her semblance. So if you keep running her in circles she will run out of stamina and be either unable to fight, use her semblance, or both. Ruby knew this, and exploited it. And after a drawn out fight and a lot of dodging, Yang fell to the ground exhausted and Ruby had dragged her back home.

She already had Qrow ready to be a part of the coming conversation through her scroll and the two argued against Dad for getting her into Signal – this time the odds much further in Ruby's favor. As much as Taiyang clearly wanted the opposite, Ruby and Qrow won the argument. And Yang, feeling betrayed and humiliated, increased her training regime, ignored her sister, and left Ruby to her own devices until the end of her own fall semester during her Senior year at Signal.

That was how Ruby despite her father's and sister's best efforts got into Signal, and how a sisterly bond was damaged leaving Ruby alone to deal with the envy and disdain of those at Signal who disliked her for her skills and advancement as a prodigy. Also during this time was when Qrow showed her the places and the techniques for safe alcohol consumption. He isn't the best at dealing with personal problems… Well, at least not all the time.

Because supposedly, Qrow had a talk with Yang at the end of her fall semester – part of which Ruby deduced had some mention of the Silver-Eyed Warriors tale – and the two had made up; their attempts at re-bonding at first being training together (since Yang wasn't going to sit and read with her younger sister unless it was Ninjas of Love or some other smut novel) and they grew to spending as much of their time together before Yang would have to go to Beacon. (Actually have scene for?)

It was Yang's going to Beacon without her, and the knowledge on the possibility of early admittance, that Ruby made the plan and bet to go into Vale, lure in, and beat up bad guys so as to gain attention. She was lucky to attract the infamous Roman Torchwick and everything worked out as well as it could…

Ruby paused having finally noticed as her thoughts turned closer to the much brighter present. Reaching out a hand to her face and feeling something wet, 'Water? Oh, I'm crying.' It was true, she was – like Blake – okay with being alone reading a good book or an interesting article on the web. But to be surrounded by people who envied you, shunned you, hated you? That… Signal wasn't that easy. And she was truly blessed to have such good teammates and friends now.

She slinked out of bed silently, going over to her dresser and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. Opening the top drawer, she found next to mom's journal a silver cross – similar to the pins she used for her cloak. It was about as big as a scroll completely opened up, and had an inner cross in the center of the cross that was colored red, red like roses. It was also attached to a beaded necklace at the top.

Ruby had always believed that for things to happen she had to make they were done by using her own two hands. But when she learned that Yang was going to be going away, she suddenly felt lost. No, she was afraid she would lose a friend, her sister, so soon after reuniting with her. Ruby had never used the cross her mother gave her. What would praying accomplish? But for the days after Yang announcing her acceptance into Beacon, Ruby prayed that she wouldn't be left behind… And then a plan came to mind, and her ploy that came to involve Roman Torchwick worked.

Was that a coincidence? Was it as simple as a new perspective giving her an idea? Or did something else happen?

Ruby was unsure, but was interrupted from her thoughts as she heard sighing from outside her dorm-room.

Curious of the sound, she wondered who was awake at this hour and decided to take a look.

Confirming that the others had fallen asleep, wondering just how long she had been thinking to herself, she peeked outside.

Looking through her door, she found Jaune outside his own dorm-room sighing to himself pitifully, and it didn't look like he noticed her.

Slowly, she snuck up quietly behind Jaune, 'Be the Blake, be the Blake, be the Book Cat Ninja.' After getting on her toes so as to get closer to Jaune's ear, she then spoke in a normal voice, "Hey Jaune."

"Agh!" Jaune practically jumped in place, after which he turned around to face the familiar speaker, an embarrassed smile on his face.

Oh yes, Jaune was very much distracted and was thinking on earlier events.

Something Jaune had learned over the course of six days was that being blackmailed was most definitely not a pleasant experience. Something he was more recently come to understand, however, is that it would have been better to have been blackmailed over something related to his teammates rather than his continued studies at Beacon – something he wasn't doing all that well with on his own in the first place. Because not only every ounce of free time Cardin has taken from him in order to make him Cardin's indentured servant, but also taking time that is supposed to be spent with his teammates. The fact of the matter was that he was regularly missing out on and, well, missing the antics of his teammates. Heck, even their usual presence was something he found himself missing now that it was no longer really there.

It didn't help that Pyrrha had come to decide that she was angry and disappointed in Jaune's decision making, and the Spartan girl made sure that her opinion was felt. Jaune hadn't mentioned that the reason he was hanging out with team CRDL was due to being blackmailed, that was sort of a given with being blackmailed and all. Jaune would have thought that with all the talk back then about Cardin bullying him that they would deduce that this was happening anyway – the others are smarter than him after all. But if Pyrrha had deduced anything regarding this, she didn't seem to care and made sure that in the little time they were together as a team to be distant, cold, and aggressive.

Jaune was brought from his thoughts about his thoughts as Ruby spoke again, smiling, "Long time no see, did you lose your scroll and lock yourself out again? Trust me, I know the feeling, girl pockets are the worst." She finished with a grumble.

"Oh! Uh, nope!" Jaune confirmed, pulling out his scroll as evidence, "Heh, got it!"

Ruby chuckled before the smile slowly left her face, "Jaune, why are you avoiding us? Did we, did I do something? I wouldn't be surprised if it was my fault."

Jaune's eyes widened, "W-what? No! No." He calmed down and sighed, "It's not you or them, Ruby, I-"

Jaune paused for a moment, considering if he should continue, and decided that it couldn't get much worse at this point, "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have and now Cardin's got me on a leash and Pyrrha won't even talk to me… I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea." With that he fell back against his door and slid down to the floor and he declared dejectedly, "I'm a failure."

"Hmmm." Ruby hm'ed in thought. She knew what he meant by 'doing something I shouldn't have' and was impressed that he could admit to himself that he made mistakes and was regretting doing something like getting fake transcripts for his own desires – something that was wrong yet also admirable, to keep on moving forward despite others telling you no. That took a certain type of determination.

And the fact that he revealed it to her first, without having said anything to his teammates – after all, Ren or Nora would have listened – warmed her heart, pink tinting her cheeks ever so slightly.

Ruby nodded to herself internally, she knew what to do. She went and sat down next to him.

"Nope." Ruby stated simply, moe-like emphasis on the 'p'.

"Nope?" Jaune questioned, not expecting the response.

"Nope." Ruby repeated with the same emphasis. "You're best friends with Ruby Rose, Jaune, you're not allowed to be a failure."

"But…" Jaune countered, slightly confused at Ruby designating things about him again, "what if I'm a failure at being 'Ruby Rose's' best friend?"

"Mmm…" Ruby mm'ed in false thought, "Nope!"

Jaune laughed at the simple yet confident declaration, "You know, you aren't the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."

"Nope!" Ruby confirmed with a laugh, before sighing and putting up a more solemn tone, "Jaune, you might have been a failure when you were a kid."

He sighed and groaned at that, but she ignored it.

"And you very well may have been a failure the first day we met."

He groaned loader, pitifully.

"But you can't let yourself be one now. Tell me, where is the Jaune that dreamed of living up to his family name? To make his father, his grandfather, and his father before him proud as a warrior? Where is that fire? That determination to grow and learn? The desire that drove you to do what you did to get into Beacon Academy, the most prestigious Huntsmen Training Academy in the world?" Her eyes glowed with confidence, and Jaune could see it as plain as the full moon on a clear night.

Jaune's eyes widened, catching a statement that clearly stated she knew about the transcripts, "How did you…?"

She ignored him, "You dream big, and it's a good dream, but you assume that greatness and power will come to you quickly. That because you are at Beacon your skills are destined to increase dramatically, but that isn't the case is it? Jaune, you've improved a lot in your time here, I've seen it, so don't be comparing your skills to that of others when you should be basing it off your own growth."

Ruby paused and looked forward, away from Jaune, "The way you think now… when you see someone better than you and when they put you down, all those hateful words that were thrown so harshly at you in the past confront you again in the present... and it's no longer others just downplaying your own achievements, but you put yourself down as well..."

"Ruby…" Jaune muttered, feeling like it wasn't just him she was talking about.

But she continued, determined, "When all the world tells you that you can't do it, that you will never be strong enough, and that you are a failure... say 'nope'. Tell the world to go suck a dick and you go read every book, learn every skill, train until you drop and show everyone that change will only come... if someone looks at the way things are now and say 'nope'."

"…" Jaune opened his mouth, but no words came, unable to counter her words.

Ruby continued uninterrupted, looking back towards him, "When I look at you, I see the potential for a great leader and an amazing huntsmen. I saw it when I met you - despite your clumsy, motion sick self - and I see it now. You have a spirit that will bring about great love... or great hatred. But you can't begin to choose your destiny, if you can't believe in yourself."

It was in that moment that Jaune remembered the words Ruby first spoke to him, 'You, Jaune Arc, are interesting!', and that not once did she ever doubt him or make fun of him throughout his entire time at Beacon, and he could then attest that her claim of being his 'best friend' was warranted – an admission that tinted his cheeks slightly.

Ruby smirked confidently, "...And there is nothing wrong training with Pyrrha or me for that matter, she wouldn't offer to help you if she didn't see your potential as well."

Jaune looked down and with a smile laughed quietly to himself, "Thanks Ruby. And… don't worry, I'll try to find a way out of this mess I got myself in."

Ruby nodded, "Good! I don't appreciate Cardin taking a friend away from me."

Jaune turned to her and pointed, "Though how is it that you know of that and that Pyrrha offered to train with me?"

"… I thought you two were going to have an anime-style confession, I had to see that man."

Jaune blushed deeply at that, "W-What are you saying?! W-we… she wouldn't-"

Ruby wiggled her eyebrows and made a clutching motion with her hands, "She's got that Pyrrha-booty and you know it."

Jaune's blush went up to 11, "I-I don't know what you are talking abutt!" Jaune gasped as he realized his 'Freudian' slip. "W-wait! I didn't-"(2)

Ruby laughed out loud, but after quieting down stood up saying, "We are all waiting for our friend back Jaune, so please hurry."

Jaune nodded solemnly, "Right."

Ruby nodded and went to go back into her room. Before opening the door she looked over her shoulder and said, "Have a Good Night, Jaune. Be unwavering." And before he could potentially respond she slinked back into her room, leaving Jaune once more alone in the hallway.

Jaune stood up and sighed, a small smile on his face… that was wiped off as he got a message from Cardin, an audio-message about getting Rapier Wasps of all things. Jaune sighed again; he had a feeling that the Rapier Wasps weren't going to give him the time he needed to think a way out of this mess.

Mankind, whether they be human or Faunus, have dreamt of immortality through its entire existence. Through civilization and its creations, mankind has stood the test of time and if they were to suddenly vanish from the world would leave behind great cities and towers and the machines that built armies, economies, and kingdoms. If mankind were to suddenly vanish, their cities would still be noticeably even hundreds of thousands of years into the future. Through civilization, mankind is immortal.

But of course, the common man to the greatest king sees immortality in a more personal viewpoint, whether it be immortality by being remembered in history as a hero or villain to the unachievable and most literal interpretation of living forever.

'Well,' a somewhat familiar figure thought to himself, 'that would be correct if by unachievable we meant invincible and thus everlasting. The process of escaping the aging process is much more doable if still incredibly difficult, assuming you don't have a lucky Semblance."

To the public at large, this man was known as 'Yomi', but if this man was used to one thing in his life it was by going by artificial names.

Yomi, as he will refer to himself for now, is a man of many things which can be grouped into particular over-arching skills that often interacted with one another.

For instance, he was truly a man with an understanding and 'mastery' of computers, and an important lesson that comes from this mastery was that 'Information is, and thus equals, power'. By this principle, by having his true name known only to himself he makes that knowledge inaccessible to others and thus in limited supply. Give others a reason to put that information into demand and then not give it to them, means that the he alone who knows his own name has power over others and their ignorance.

An example of this would be if you wanted to investigate, say Jaune Arc. Just acquiring that last name gives a lot of potential for further research and investigation into that person and who/what the people in his family are like. All of that leads to more connections, more possible information to research and in the end more power. Collect documents on Jaune Arc and the Arc family and it becomes clear that his transcripts are too amazing and contradict other documents suggesting he was not at other combat schools prior to his time at Beacon. You also can learn that the Arc family lives on a farm, and while hey have continued to create Huntsmen since the Great War, the current head of the family hasn't declared his son to be his successor. Combine those facts together and you can reasonably determine he didn't craft a personal weapon – something customary and consistently done in such combat schools – and when you look at the weapons of Arc Huntsmen you learn the family kept onto that Hunter's weapon as an heirloom of sorts and continued to use it despite the development of mecha-shift technology. Now you know his weapon and his lack of combat training whatsoever – this gives the one who dug up this information power over Jaune Arc in a confrontation, because know you know he probably sucks at fighting and has a sword and shield.

It is that sort of background and history checking that Yomi had to be careful to avoid being done to himself, especially considered when constructing this very public persona. Let's just say it involved taking the place of a similarly looking computer student that happened to be a loner – not that a loner computer person was exactly rare.

What all of this meant was that the assassin and 'black hat' cyber-criminal that he was, was not known by the Kingdoms at large. And he is only known of in the criminal world because he has to in order to accept jobs and thus gain money; but even then he does it through voice modified conversations under heavy encryption or through encrypted messages. No one knew his real name or face, always going by an alias and never publically claiming an assassination – often leaving and giving permission unto the organizations, like the White Fang, to say they 'ordered' the killing. He honestly didn't care, as long as his anonymity was secured. He knew, however, that hiding information wasn't the best way to secure it, so he made sure to have plenty of other safeguards.

He never let himself be seen – either by using his semblance, leaving no one alive, and/or kidnapping people so they couldn't talk. And he meticulously made sure that those he captured couldn't talk, children are easily manipulated and prone to forgetfulness after all.

Yomi was if anything a pragmatic and logical man.

But he was just a man, and made mistakes.

For there is an exception to his skills, involving a somewhat recent mission he had undergone that hadn't gone as planned and resulted in losing some of his informational advantage. It all definitely set in a lesson that he would remember to his grave. The mysterious women who offered him such a profitable contract in actuality had him corned like a rat surrounded by predators. Once Torchwick was off somewhere, that mysterious 'benefactor' was quick to remind him that he worked for her, and the money in the contract is only to maintain the success of his operation in her name. And he had to obe as she knew his identity and secret and knew of his condition.

The only other thing the mysterious women controlling him and Torchwick had him do was create part of some program for her – it was hard to make considering how vague she was with it, but he guessed it was part of some type of worm or virus. Only a portion of the program, he doubted he would recognize the complete program out in the wild.

But really, despite the intrigue and mystery around her, she really pissed him off. He was the one who was supposed to have more knowledge over his opponent.

But fuck her. She only saved him because he has information from an Atlas facility she wanted but he had beat her to it. She can't take it from him because he encrypted the data and despite threats of her revealing his secret he held out. Why? Because that bitch doesn't know what is all in the data he has and is the key to being free from her leash. She wanted his cyber skills too much to lose him as an asset and he knew it.

These were the thoughts that Yomi pondered as he walked the streets of Vale towards the more edgy bits of town. Yomi, the persona, was known to going to orphanages in the poorer areas of Vale. Among many reasons, he decided to do this so as to make his presence in the area not so surprising. He may work for the Vale police, but he was the Cyber division – they go into the bad zones after the people with guns have cleared the target area; which meant that otherwise, him going to a known hotbed of criminal activity alone would have been suspicious.

And this wasn't just to make it easier for him to slip into the criminal sector to use his other persona, but because in preparation for tomorrow's mission he needed to fake Yomi's death. He wasn't going to actually die yet, of course, since it was a fake death. But simply put, Yomi as a persona was no longer needed, and would make everything easier if he easily and in a logical manner disappeared. This was something he recently prepared with the help of his associate – he just needed to get over to the specified location and make sure he was seen going there along the way. So he would stop by the orphanage for a few minutes and make sure he was spotted.

But Yomi was just a man.

He approached the outside of the building. It was a small, decrepit thing – evidence of the building being crowded even evident from looking upon it from the outside – the building almost looked like an inspection worker would proclaim the building condemned and unlivable.

At this point in time, Yomi realized, it was fitting. And it was with that thought his eyes widened behind his yellow-tinted sunglasses, and he began to cough violently into his hand. Stumbling, he went over and sat in a nearby bench, coughing all the while. After an agonizing minute, it stopped, and he took his black-gloved hand away to reveal blood.

"Mr. Yomi? Are you okay?"

Yomi looked at the presence, it was a little Faunus boy – a canine Faunus of some description. Honestly, Yomi didn't care that the boy was a Faunus, wouldn't care if he was human either – they were all just the foolish creatures that called themselves man. And he didn't care that the boy before him like most in that building were the victims of the Faunus War or the more recent attacks of the violent White Fang movement.

But Yomi was not in this moment the greatest assassin the world has never seen, but a man.

And he remembered mankind's desire for immortality.

"Hehe." He chuckled to the boy, "No, I suppose I'm not okay."

"Then," the boy began, his childish concern innocently transparent, "is there anything I can do to help Mr. Yomi? You're bleeding…"

"Hmmm." Yomi thought for a moment, "Just, just sit with me here for a moment."

The child nodded enthusiastically, seemingly proud to be of use – a trait Yomi would normally find useful and a potential source of manipulation, but right now he didn't have the energy.

The two sat there for few moments, the child kicking his feet back and forth on the bench and Yomi just sitting there, his breathing controlled and silent.

Perhaps the child got bored or was more perceptive that Yomi realized because the boy then asked solemnly, "Mr. Yomi… is something bothering you? You look sick. Miss Jasmine said that it's good to talk about bad things so you'll feel better and not be like a bottle." The child then mumbled, "Not that turning into a bottle makes any sense…"

Yomi looked at the boy in confusion, that didn't make much sense, however… it couldn't make things worse at this point. "Well, I am about to lose my…" It was there he decided he needed to rephrase his hypothetical, "I am about to lose someone dear to me. I've done the math, run the calculations, and did the tests – but I'm… afraid that the means I have prepared to 'preserve' them will work. I'm betting everything on the assumption this works like it's supposed to, and I'm not even sure of the consequences of it myself…"

The boy looked at him, somewhat confused – something you probably are as well, which was understandable as Yomi was being deliberately vague. But after a few moments, the boy seemed to come to a conclusion, "Well, I don't think I get everything you mean Mr. Yomi, but you are like super smart! If you made something to help this person you care about then it has to work!"

Yomi looked at the child for a moment then smirked slightly. The kid didn't understand much of his situation, and maybe if he had more knowledge and capacity to understand what he was about to do his answer might have been different. However, the kid was right that he had to trust in the work he worked so desperately to obtain and refine – after all, his plans have ever only gone south once and he was going to keep it that way. Never again would his own folly be his downfall.

Yomi ruffled the kid's hair, careful to avoid possibly irritating the boy's ears, "Thanks squirt." He ignored the kid's protests, but after a moment stopped and stood up.

"Welp." Yomi began, "It's time for me to head out, mind giving a message to Miss Jasmine for me?"

"Sure! Of course, Mr. Yomi!" The kid answered excitedly, happy to have gotten so much attention from such an awesome person.

"Tell Miss Jasmine to check her bank account for this place." Yomi said, "Have her consider it as a gift for being so accommodating with my frequent visits." It wasn't a lie, in fact it would go well with the metaphor from before – or he should say that what he would become would go along with the metaphor well, oh well, metaphors are sometimes confusing. Either way, Miss Jasmine would find an enormous increase in her funds and would no doubt improve the living condition of this building for her children. Yes, quite poetic.

"Uh, sure. Got it." The boy nodded in acknowledgment.

"Good." And with that Yomi continued on his way, giving a lazy wave behind him.

Yomi walked to his destination, determined that everything in his master plan would play out as he had anticipated, one way or another.

Later that day news reels in Vale would recount on the violent murder of Yomi, Vale's top Cyber Agent known and admired for taking down multiple aspiring drug dealers, ganger leaders, and distributers of child pornography and among solving a variety of murder and other cases for the Kingdom of Vale, and the disappearance of his body – no doubt taken by the murderers for the bounty on his head in the criminal sector. The murderers themselves seemingly vanished without a trace. Yomi's wife, a rabbit faunus, the only thing the media got from her was her reaction to learning of the tragedy, a blank, dead expression before she shut herself off in hiding. (3)

In reality, 'Alucard' was still at large and putting together the last of the materials he would need for tomorrow. The day when Ruby Rose, the Silver-Eyed Warrior, and the decedent of Summer Rose, would come to the Forever Fall Forest - conveniently where his base outside of Vale's walls was located.

And so it was that Alucard looked at a cozy cabin. 'Hehe, what a nice little island. Time to begin.'

Author's Notes:

Cliffhanger! What is he doing on Patch? Find out next time!

(1) Yes, I know that weapons are supposed to be made during initial combat schools like Signal, but this is a different case, and in the case of Hunter-families, it doesn't seem like it would be all that surprising for her to go into Signal with a weapon already.

(2) Freudian slips aren't actually a thing, it's just your brain sometimes randomly pulls out words you didn't mean to say. It's an example of memory retrieval failure – part of how things are 'forgotten'

(3) Indirectly stating in this paragraph that the world is quite dark considering the crimes going around in the shadows of Vale.

Some chapters I struggled a little to make sure I had 4,000 – 5,000 words, but in this chapter I easily threw out 8,000 or so, nice. And to think this was originally going to be part of the chapter right before heading into the Forever Fall Forest. This chapter turned out to be a place where I put in some of that stuff that I said I might: We talked a bit more about younger Ruby's training, her relationship with her father and sister, why Yang spent all her time at Signal with her friends leaving Ruby alone to deal with jealous and mean children.

And we also get to talk in some form of detail about 'Yomi'. The name of his persona does fit in with the whole color name thing since it means in Japanese Yellow Springs/Wells and he has blond hair. Yomi is also essentially hell in Shinto too, so not so subtle a persona name, huh? Cause, ya know, he kills people. Either way, we got more than five lines with him here and learned a bit about him – he's pragmatic and ruled by logic, but here is also shown in a moment of weakness and emotion as he fears and concerns and thusly that he has emotion and can change. That's all that's needed for now, but it shows that this master assassin, ninja, hacker isn't invincible or unbeatable. 'Alucard' doesn't fit in the color scheme, but it has a reason and no, there are no vampires.

Next time we will actually go into the Forever Fall Forest and will be the real ending to this second arc of Volume 1. I'll say that the Arc Name 'Lessons' isn't just referring to the whole thing with Jaune or the literal lessons in the classroom, but was first thought of when thinking of the base of next chapter. It's going to be a doozy I swear.

Now that you are here, why not review? What do you think of Yomi, does he seem 'real' enough and not some overpowered Marty Stu? Really, I'm trying to avoid that. Keep in mind we haven't seen him fight though. And what about the division with Yang that happened in Ruby's past? Thoughts?

Also, anything I have done up until now that may lose people's attention? I've noticed a growth in the amount of you readers that stick around with every chapter I post, but the last chapter's growth was miniscule in comparison – not that I mind this being my limit of viewers, but it's nice to reach more people. Probably correlated side note, I am going to work on fixing various grammar issues in earlier chapters – I've done this for the first chapter already. There will probably be some edits and additions as well, but they will be minor.

Speaking of that, I would like to take this time to thank everyone for their views, for favoriting, following, and especially the reviewers. This is the first fiction I have actually posted and I didn't expect to have such good reception and this many followers. As of me typing this I have 236 viewers who have favorited and 336 who are following this fiction. I mean, wow, without all of your support I wouldn't be able to find writing this fiction as enjoyable as it is – most of my ideas I just let stew in my brain. So again, thank you all for your support, it means a lot truly.

Thanks again for reading and see you all next time!