RWBY: Silver Eyes

Volume 1: Arc 2: Lessons

Chapter 11: Battle of Forever Fall Forest

"Hey (hey kid), I have to question, what's with the violent aggression? Details blurry, lost 'em too early. Welcome to the family. Hey, why won't you listen? Can't help the people you're missin'… I'll try and help you with the things that can't be justified; I need to warn you that there is no way to rationalize! So have you figured it out now? So have you figured it out?! You can't win this fight!"

– Welcome to the Family, Avenged Sevenfold


Hello! Time for super vague stuff before we get into the chapter. Why up here? Because this chapter is the end of the second arc, so it's special. I'm not going to in-depth explain things here, that can wait for next chapter. Anyway, go on ahead and read, and look to the numbers below for some reference. And remember, not everything you are told is true…

(1) The Phantom is really Saffron, the other moniker is correct

(2) Is intentionally using Japanese honorifics

(3) It's the Quantum Morpher form Power Ranger's Time Force. I know, I know, another reference to that old show. Sorry, I like it too much. Admittedly, slightly tweaked, but deal with it.

(4) While it is confirmed from Weiss in the CCT Tower that Scrolls can hold data, I refuse to believe they can hold larger amounts of data like Saffron does. All those programs and files take up space – not to mention the hardware and processing. Saffron is however, more of an exception in regards to how much stuff he has on his scroll. And while unsaid, the device's metal casing is mostly bullet-proof, also slightly adding to the largeness of it.

(5) Yes, most of this is a quote. Sorry, it's too good.

I do apologize for this taking so long. School projects are increasing in difficulty and time consumption and so made the editing and reviewing process much longer. That and with this being the super important end of the arc chapter, I wanted to make sure it was as acceptable as I could convince myself. I will say here that the main points of this chapter have been planned since I started this story.

Also, if there are moments you find confusing, they will probably be explained next chapter. So if you find something that causes confusion, leave a review so I know to address it.

And Remember, this story is 'M' rated. You've been warned.


Secrets. Ruby had come to quickly realize that there were a variety of secrets that were being hidden by various people at Beacon Academy. Like how Blake always wore her bow – even whilst sleeping. Or how Jaune, as she recently discovered, got into Beacon using fake transcripts. Ozpin just in general had an aura of mystery. Where did all the money for the coffee around the school come from?! And there was her own grand secret, the only ones who knew of it being Yang, Ozpin, maybe Glynda, and well whomever hacked Beacon's network during Initiation.

That last bit of information had particularly been haunting her, especially over the last week.

While everyone else in the squad was focused on Jaune's absence, Ruby began to notice odd happenings around herself, and outside of asking a few vague questions to make sure she wasn't insane, she decided to keep these odd happenings to herself since she had no way to explain them… yet.

And what were these odd happenings? For starters, a few days ago she found her mother's journal slanted in her dresser, which was odd because she always aligned in flat and normal and vertically. Part of her almost swore that the tilting was intentional, but when asked no one even knew she had a diary - what she played the question off as.

And there was the occasional feeling of being watched whilst she was training at night, but she couldn't find anyone else's aura nearby, nor hear or smell or see anything out of the ordinary. How do you explain having felt a presence you can't even prove was there?

There was also the cross necklace, left to her from her mother, that she also found on her person despite never having remembered grabbing it from her dresser.

And all of that happened in just the first two days of this week, and they kept happening, if a lot more subtle. It was like she was being taunted. The closest she had come to having her suspicions proven right was once while training she swore she heard someone start coughing, but the sound quickly faded and despite her searching she couldn't find anyone.

Ozpin had long since assured her that everything was under control within regards to dealing with the hackers. That was something that didn't really give her much confidence and really only served to further aggravate her. Why? Because ever since Initiation she has been prohibited from leaving the school grounds. The only reason she could train outside was the vast amount of Beacon Security cameras and probably a few other measures that Ozpin decided not to tell her. It was one reason she couldn't get more booze, though for that thankfully Beacon Coffee is good enough to deal with her liquid refreshment needs. But the latest strange happenings were driving her paranoid, unleashing fears and over-exaggerated possibilities that Ruby was as quick to deny as fast as she came up with them.

And so to give herself some kind of solace, she began doing research during her free time, because it's not possible to study and train all day every day without blowing out or going insane. She was missing out on quality anime watching time. Ruby still was waiting to learn who killed Ryuko Matoi's father in Kill la Kill. Anyway, in order to get an idea on who might be responsible; if she knew or even had an idea of who was responsible, then she could use that to plan her next move after all.

One thing she quickly learned was that it was hard to look for hackers that were still at large – sort of for the same reason Torchwick is still at large, they don't want to be caught so they be as quiet as possible until their name gets out. Torchwick is admittedly very good at what he does and despite having goons to rough people up, he easily sneaks around the city and sure doesn't parade himself around a heist unless he is confident enough in his escape.

Okay maybe him parading himself makes him a bad example, Ruby didn't have many personally examples of criminals to fall back on.

Even looking for where cyber criminals were attacking was somewhat difficult. Atlas' military, for example, kept such things in regards to them private. And any regulatory or auditory agencies were still in their infancy, which meant that businesses felt no need to give reports on anything in regards to whether they had been hacked or not.

A fancy way of saying the information she wanted didn't exist.

So then she came to the conclusion that she should change focus onto what the hacker would do with the information they stole and who else would want it.

Ruby could see the advantages, disadvantages, and worries of having a somewhat trained Huntress that could easily freeze packs of Grimm in the eyes of certain individuals.

Like for instance, if Roman Torchwick were to have her as an 'asset' or otherwise in his employ, he could expand his hiding places to outside the walls of Vale, making finding him and his stolen goods even more difficult; Roman could be potential hiding in the towns within Vale's borders, but that posed a greater risk of attack by Grimm. Villages and nomad groups outside the kingdoms would desire her abilities for a similar reason – as they were under constant threat of Grimm attacks. Other criminals may take note of her perception and combat abilities and see her as the ultimate weapon in their schemes. And on that note, some may want her dead so she can't get good enough to be that ultimate warrior against them.

Well, she doubted Torchwick was behind it, even as a revenge plot, because he seemed really busy with all of his dust thievery. Nomads were mostly concerned about their immediate safety and didn't have time to gather intelligence like this even through a third party. It was the same thing with villages, and while the villages near CCT support towers are more technologically advanced and maybe more into this sort of activity, there weren't many signs to support it. Towns within Vale's borders as a kingdom are too woven in the economic system that hires hunters from Vale that they probably don't care.

One a related note, she noticed that searches through her scroll pulled up less results in her searches than when they were done on a public device like in the library; but when she tried these new links, they failed to open, or were restricted. Maybe her scroll automatically cut those out since they had less processing power and so ignored them?

Either way it still bothered her. And her week of searching turned up no real results. And that was perhaps the most worrying thing. If someone had hands on information regarding her abilities, why wasn't it all over the web? Why has nothing been happening?

Ruby couldn't tell for sure, but it was immensely troubling and troublesome.

Those were Ruby's thoughts that partially cloudy morning as she was preparing herself for the field trip to Forever Fall Forest. Yang and Blake were off eating breakfast and Weiss was preparing herself in the shower of the dorm; Ruby was glancing over the information she determined over the last week, she had eaten already before the others had awoken.

Ruby sighed as she rubbed her head, 'Why wasn't anything happening?'

The universe decided that was the wrong question to ask as she began to feel the onset of a headache, and was that a fever…?

Efforts in ignoring the odd ailment failed, in-fact the headache was slowly getting worse and worse, pounding in her skull like a punch from Ember Celica. Thank the gods that may or may not be that the sun was being filtered by darkening grey clouds – as the added strain of bright light might have crippled her cognition.

She put her hand to her head again, as if that would help ease the sudden pain. Right before she began to try to use the meditation she used to help with her Power induced headaches, she got a message from her scroll.

'Not really in the mood for your daily fucking text right now dad.' Ruby thought to herself, partially out of genuine annoyance but mostly out of pain induced aggravation.

Despite her mood and pain she looked at her scroll and was surprised to see that it was not from her father, but was an anonymous message – it didn't even display a number that was contacting her.

"Hello, Ruby Rose, Last Rose of Summer. Tell me, on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the pain of your headache? My associate would appreciate the feedback on her poison." The text read, the first part of the message causing her eyes to widen at her name being known and the 'title' given to her, the latter part of the message causing her to gasp at the implications.

'I've been poisoned!' How?! Where?! Why!?

As if predicting the thoughts, a new message popped up, "You should really make your own meals. You know cafeteria food isn't good for you. And don't worry about blondy and the beauty, we only got you with that particular special ingredient. Why? Because you are a special one, aren't you?"

Ruby frowned in worry, she was thankful it was only her that seemed to be targeted, but this guy knew that Yang and Blake were in the cafeteria right now; and while the capabilities of this mysterious attacker were unknown to her, Ruby had to assume they also knew where she and Weiss were located as well, it was logical enough. But there was also an implication this mysterious messenger was making, calling her 'special'. Eyes widening, she realized that this could very well be the same hacker from initiation or perhaps a different hacker who got information from the first.

Ignoring the stabbing pain, that was getting really distracting at this point, she texted back, "Who is this and what do you want with me?"

The mysterious messenger quickly replied, "Now, now. Why so aggressive? You'll find that I am the one in control here not the other way around, capiche?"

Before she could respond, another text popped up, "Fine, don't tell me how much your headache sucks. It hurts a lot right now doesn't it?"

Ruby didn't have the mental energy to sarcastically retort to that.

"Look behind 'Ninjas of Love' on beauty's bookshelf, there you will find the antidote." The messenger informed.

If Ruby had more mental capacity at the moment, she would have remembered that Blake had dabbled in the book before leaving with Yang for breakfast, but she didn't and missed the implications.

Deciding to follow the directions, for now, she went to the bookcase, and lo-and-behold a syringe was safely stored behind the book – how considerate of her poisoner to give the antidote in a way that would more quickly go into her system than a pill would, for example.

Her headache was getting pretty bad, it was like a constant stream of pain as if an eternal bucket of sand that hit like rocks was poured overhead, with a secondary and much larger panging like as if she was banging her head against a slab of steel.

Despite this, Ruby hesitated from jabbing the needle in her arm. What if the first poison was the best they could do through the food? And that this was an attempt to make her death look a suicide instead of an assassination, taking advantage of her mental exhaustion thanks to the headache?

This in mind, she grabbed her scroll and texted back to the mysterious person, "And how do I know this isn't a trick to make my death appear like a suicide?"

It took a moment, but the person on the other end was quick to respond, "Oho! Despite that headache of yours, you managed to think of such an outcome? Good show, very good show indeed. You are wise in assuming that is poison in your possession. Think of it all as a test. If you were so stupid as to blindly follow the directions of your poisoner, then you didn't really deserve to live on do you?"

Ruby frowned at that, a test of intelligence was one thing; saying that if someone wasn't intelligent enough they did not deserve to live was another story that she could not believe in. What kind of sadist was she dealing with?

The way this messenger kept on anticipating her thoughts and base emotions was getting aggravating, as well as their tendency to keep on sending messages without waiting for a reply, they had then sent, "You don't have to answer. Your eyes will be opened to reality soon enough. After all you have some of the best eyes out there! Anyway, the actual antidote is behind beauty's copy of 'The Art of War'. Great book by the way."

A short search later confirmed her findings, but she too refrained from immediately using this new syringe.

A new text came to alleviate such worries, "Do understand I have no intention of killing you so easily. If I wanted to do it easily I would have killed you in your sleep. No, there are things you must yet do and this is not the place for your fall. "

The message was ominous, but the headache was getting even worse at this point and her self-control was fading, that and the logic made sense – this potential assassin has shown they have ways into Beacon Academy which is filled with a massive amount of in-training Hunters and staffed by fully trained and experienced Hunters. If they wanted her dead, they could have done it already. Trying to put off that worrying fact, she injected the syringe.

Within two minutes the headache was but a memory, and the messenger felt like gloating about it, "See? The headache is gone right? Good to know that we have an understanding of each other's capabilities; well, more so mine. Regardless, there is more to this line of communication than mere threats about how not safe you are. Which you clearly are not."

Ruby glared at her scroll, this person was starting to piss her off - some of it was probably being so easily played by this person and part of it being anger at not being safe in Beacon of all places. Ruby texted back to the messenger, "Then I ask again, who is this and what do you want with me?"

The messenger's timely responses were far from a surprise, "Despite everything, you still have enough fire to talk back to me, that's interesting. We'll see how long that lasts. Fine, my name is Saffron. And I want to give you a message, except it is more like instructions rather than just information."

Ruby decided to humor the now dubbed Saffron, "Okay, and what are your threatening instructions?"

"The sass is strong with you." Saffron commented, "But your observation has merit. Very well, later today you will be visiting the Forever Fall Forest. No doubt your instructors will tell you to stay in groups, you can follow that instruction for a limited time. Sometime during your visit there will be a large commotion in the woods and you will know it when you see it. During the commotion there will be a sign, also equally obvious; you will follow this sign deeper into the forest and do so alone. Why should you do this? Because it would be a shame if you became a family-less orphan, wouldn't it?"

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise and rage, 'Son of a bitch!' How dare he threaten her family!?

Saffron texted again, "If it was so easy to poison perceptive little you, who is not to say that your dearest sister isn't so fortunate?"

Ruby's eyes widened at the implication that clearly insinuated that her sister was given a different poison.

The text continued, "The sign will have the antidote for your sister. Don't try telling the faculty or taking your sister to a doctor – they won't have enough time to uncover the poison and make an antidote; that and I'll be forced to expand my targets to your teammates. Hell, maybe I could instead help deal with your daddy issues? So be a good girl, follow your instructions, and be quiet about them."

Ruby grit her teeth in frustration, this guy had her played. While there was the possibility that he was lying about being able to easily target her teammates and family, it wasn't something she was willing to risk on the high chance he has accounted for her resisting.

Ruby bit her tongue, realizing that she really didn't have much choice in the matter, conceded, "Fine. I'll do as you have instructed. Let me ask this, however, why are you doing this?" She wanted to get an understanding for his goals, what he wanted to achieve. It could help for prepare for whatever she would be confronting.

Saffron took a moment to respond, "This is all for several reasons. Money and information were big factors. There is more to it than that, but we will get to that later on in our relationship. Do know that there are bigger fish whom have their eyes on you: both criminal and political/military. I will not respond further at this time. We'll be seeing each other quite soon I assure you."

A few moments after reading it, the message chain disappeared; seemingly deleting itself and Ruby didn't have the technical knowledge to check for logs in the scroll or any of that kind of fancy stuff. Still, that magnificent bastard made sure that she couldn't show the text messages to others as evidence. Ruby would bet her savings on the fact that if she took screenshots of the texts that she would have found them gone as well. This Saffron guy may be pissing her off, but she could admit that he was clever and had this well planned.

Ruby sighed, "Troublesome…"

"What are you complaining about now, Ruby?"

Ruby turned to see that Weiss had come out of the shower and apparently had the time to change while she was still dealing with Saffron. Her white hair was still a little damp from the shower, a cause that brought about the effect of Weiss brushing her hair as she addressed her younger team leader.

It was in this moment that Ruby realized that not only was she holding the empty syringe that had the antidote, but she was also still possessed the syringe filled with poison. So as to not draw attention to this fact – something she got out of thanks to Weiss simply having not given Ruby much ocular attention during the time Weiss was changing – Ruby hid the syringes in one of her belt pouches, moving slowly so as to not draw attention.

Addressing Weiss, Ruby responded, "Oh, nothing. Just lamenting that school had to have a field trip during the opportune time for watching anime. I mean, I'm seeing the early signs of rain outside. I already had to sacrifice a week of anime time this past week thanks to homework."

"That's what you were doing?" Weiss questioned glancing over whilst still doing her hair, " A prodigy with perfect memory like Ruby Rose had to spend all her free time doing homework like every other student? Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Oh no. Ruby may have noted that Weiss partially saw through her fib, but Ruby was more concerned with the fact that Weiss deployed the verbal weapons known as sass or sarcasm. Weiss might have disagreed, but this was her turf. And hopefully some aggression would get Weiss and through her the others to give her some space; she realized that in the name of the long term, for the short term she needs her team to be away from her or face Saffron's inevitable wrath. "Whatever, Snow Cone. I can get bogged down with homework too."

"Don't call me that." Weiss instantly hissed in the Weiss-certified manner that brought Ruby much glee, "And secondly, I actually find that hard to believe. I loath to admit it, but you satisfactorily complete assignments with ease and there haven't been any assignments that have been challenging recently."

Weiss turned to her and questioned in what Ruby was shocked to have discerned as being concerned, "Is anything wrong, Ruby? Are you okay?"

Ruby kept the surprise from showing, "Y-yes, I'm fine. Really. I must have had an off-week then," but apparently her eyes deceived her, because Weiss wasn't convinced.

"I would like to think I know my partner enough to know that she doesn't have 'off-weeks'." Weiss huffed to herself, "Fine. Don't tell me what's going on. But like we've collectively decided with Jaune, I'll give you a little to work it out yourself. Take too long or if things become harmful I will get myself involved."

Weiss pointed at her scowling with authority, "Got it?"

Ruby had to hold back a flinch, "G-got it." Part of Ruby wondered she even felt the need to flinch at that; it wasn't particularly threatening. Another part of her realized that she didn't like having to hide things from her teammates and from her partner – it was the same part of her that felt guilty she kept quiet about her Ocular abilities.

"Good!" Weiss beamed, proud of herself. "Now hurry up, we need to find the others and get going."

"Hurry up she says…" Ruby grumbles, "Who was it that decided to sleep in and have her team leader go and get her food in bed? Ungrateful Ice Queen. Why do I do the things I do for that woman?"

"What was that?" Weiss questioned, not hearing what Ruby said but had an idea.

"Nothing!" Ruby denied quickly, sarcasm was one thing, but sass was not something that Weiss tolerated so easily. That and she didn't quite want to admit to the implications at the end of her statement…

Shaking her head and pocketing the cross she kept onto dearly, she went off to go get Crescent Rose and a few other things to attempt to prepare for was bound to happen later that day.


Ruby opened her eyes in confusion. Where was she? What was she doing?

Looking around, she noticed she was standing in a field of grass, patches of yellow, dying grass dotting the field. A deep and grey fog surrounded her, making it impossible to see anything too far away. The sun, however, was shining, but it looked as if clouds would start to move in and block out its rays. Everything was eerily silent; not a bird sang nor did leaves rustle.

Shaking the feeling of familiarity of the area away, Ruby walked forward, trying to find something or someone to help put things into perspective.

After what felt like fifteen minutes she began to see the outline of a large building. Ruby then stopped moving in shock and surprise to find that the building was in fact Signal Academy.

Shock quickly turned to confusion, "Signal? Why am I here…?"

A sudden crack of thunder echoed bringing her attention back to the heavens. The clouds now encompassed the entire sky, only a small sliver of sunlight broke through.

The sight of the clouds choking the bright and warm sunlight filled Ruby with despair and she shivered at the cold that came with the sun's absence, but she could not place why the sight bothered her so.

She stood there in the cold for what seemed like hours, and not even the wind produced sound to alleviate the silence.

She made to call out if anyone was nearby, but as her mouth moved no sound was uttered.

Disturbed by this, Ruby tried to continue walking towards the building. Crossing through the woods, she entered another clearing. She quickly spotted that it was the same clearing she had left from.

Realizing the lack of progress this set of action contained. She stood there waiting for whatever must have been in store for her.

And so she stood there, the mist thickening ever so slowly, so dark and cold…

And alone.


Ruby was woken from her dream as the Bullhead landed. Yang gave her a worried look, but Ruby forced herself to ignore it. She must have been making concerning facial expressions or moving as she slept on the Bullhead, Ruby deduced.

Their Bullhead, of course, had the rest of team RWBY and also squeezed in team JNPR. What an awkward flight that must have been for the conscious. Ruby would have normally enjoyed Weiss' incredulous look at her being able to sleep whilst standing, but she kept a neutral look on her face. She was going to have to try and get her teammates to not follow her whenever she had to follow whatever signal she would be receiving. If she was being off-putting and passive aggressive, they should see she wants space.

A few other Bullheads were also there, in order to get the entirety of the field trip group there of course. And Glynda soon enough began to lead everyone deeper in the forest. Ruby took a page out of Blake's book and tried to avoid giving in to interaction – not that there was much considering the effects Jaune was still having on the squad.

As they reached whatever point that Glynda decided was the split-up point she gave an interesting declaration to the group, one that was more intended to get those gawking over the admittedly beautifully red forest more serious about their time here, "Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so. There have been reports of unusual amounts of Grimm within the forest, so be on your guard."

Glynda paused and took out a jar for emphasis, "Think of it as a mission. This is your objective; each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o'clock. Have fun!"

Despite everything, Ruby couldn't help but see that last comment as one of sarcasm, even if she didn't hear it in Glynda's tone.

Regardless, she barely noticed that Jaune was whisked away by team CRDL before she looked at her team and wondered how she was going to ditch them without causing a fuss.

She sighed in self-pity, not quite grasping yet why it felt so troublesome to attempt shove her team members away.


Jaune knew he had made a promise the previous day about getting out of his situation, but that didn't mean that one easily came to mind. For instance, despite the fact that there are apparently large amounts of Grimm in the forest, Glynda was quite alright with going ahead and sending everyone on their way without her direct supervision. So despite saying she was there to make sure none of them died, she was practically throwing them to the Beowolves. If she is that much of a harsh person than it is quite obvious that she – Ozpin's right-hand women, would not be quite pleased learning of the truth of the matter regarding his transcripts.

And to be honest, gathering the sap itself wasn't that hard as the trees were absolutely filled with the stuff. The difficult part was that Jaune was 99 percent certain he was allergic to it, and it was making him a little queasy – not that getting him queasy was an impressive feat mind you.

Add that to his general occasional clumsiness and it came to no surprise that he was okay with simply falling over as soon as he brought the six jars of sap that Cardin ordered him to do for them.

"Hey," Cardin greeted with his trademarked dismissive/belittling tone, "great work, Jauney boy! That wasn't too hard was it?"

"I think I'm allergic to this stuff." Jaune moaned from his position on the stable ground with its red grass.

"Great, great, great." Cardin dismissed, not caring. "So, Jaune, I bet you are asking yourself, 'Why did my best buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there are only five of us?'"

Jaune looked up, "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."

"Well," Cardin began, "come with me and you'll find out."

Jaune gulped, he had a bad feeling about all of this.

The walk itself wasn't far, and leaving from the opening in the forest that team CRDL was busy doing nothing, they and Jaune went to a small cliff. Jaune looked over it, revealing teams RWBY and the remains of JNPR. They were doing as expected of the field trip, gathering sap and generally enjoying the scenery.

While all of them were generally spread out through the clearing anyway, it was noticeable that Pyrrha and Ruby were not only far from each other, but distanced from their respective teams.

"Ruby? Pyrrha?" Jaune mumbled to himself. Speaking up he questioned Cardin, "Cardin? Wh-what's going on?"

Looking down at the unsuspecting teams, Cardin replied simply, "Payback."

Jaune's eyes widened slightly in realization. Oh, so that's what the sap is for. Oh. Oh no.

Cardin lightly punched the ground for emphasis, "There she is. Little red riding hood, thinks she's so smart. But we've heard the rumors haven't we boys?"

Jaune flinched, he had quickly learned in his time around CRDL that there were indeed negative rumors showing some of the students' opinions on Ruby Rose, some more vile than others. The one CRDL seemed to favor was the rumor that Ruby not only was 'bribing' teachers at Beacon, but that she had done the same at Signal.

Apparently Ruby was aware of the rumors, and to Jaune it seemed like she was taking steps to suppress them. She had actually come up to him a few days ago to make sure he kept quiet about the rumors; asking that he make sure that word doesn't reach Yang in fear of Beacon no longer existing and Jaune was quick to accept the terms – he didn't want to see Yang unleashed onto the school in all her righteous fury. Apparently the rest of the dissidents were wise enough to avoid getting Yang involved as well.

"Alright, boys." Cardin continued, breaking Jaune from his analysis, "Last night ol' Jaune her managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps." He retrieved the buzzing box from… somewhere as evidence, "And now we are going to put them to work."

The rest of Cardin's chuckled to themselves, realizing at the same time as Jaune, what Cardin meant by that. Jaune chuckled nervously, internally distressing at the reality of the coming situation.

"Now," Cardin announced to the small group, still focused on the box – probably making sure the wasps don't somehow get out early – "according to one of the essays Jaune wrote for me last week, these nasty things looove sweets." He emphasized 'love' as an exaggeration that Jaune didn't much care for at that moment or ever.

Referring to a certain red-cloaked girl, Cardin declared, "I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two."

The group chose that moment to back away from the cliff and get off of the ground. Cardin then shoved the jar of sap into Jaune's hands, "And you are gonna do it."

"W-what?!" Jaune questioned, not in confusion but horror.

Cardin's voice hardened, commanding "Hit her with the sap! Either that," Cardin then got real close as to keep their little secret between the two of them, his voice practically hissing like a snake, "or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon and away from those pathetic friends of yours."

Cardin then gave him a shove closer to the cliff, him and the rest of CRDL grinning malevolently.

Jaune gulped and looked away from his tormenters to the still unsuspecting group below and the reality of his situation came in all at once. For he realized in that moment…

He had to make a decision, right then and there.


Ruby's paranoia and frustration were starting to reach their limits.

She was leaning against a tree several feet away from the rest of the group, she convinced the rest of them to let her be the designated lookout for Grimm so the rest didn't have to completely be on their guard. Her team protested at first, worried about her odd behavior that day, but conceded when Ruby had insisted. After all, it wasn't a secret how much Ruby enjoyed fighting, especially Grimm, so they probably saw it as relaxing for her. She pawned off collecting sap herself onto Yang, taking a little bit of advantage over her elder sister's concern so she herself didn't have to bother with the assignment.

She had to remind herself throughout the entire process that her distant behavior was a necessary evil, but telling herself didn't help her conscious much. Another thing bothering her was that it was a single day of odd behavior and suddenly they were up in arms worried over her; she expected it from Yang, but she hadn't realized that Weiss and Blake had gotten close enough to feel that way towards her. It was disturbing that Ruby hadn't noticed until now.

But both of those things paled to her other worries. One of which being was that it was so. Very. Quiet.

The forest was eerily calm, something no one else seemed to have noticed. She hadn't seen anything from Saffron, nothing about his so called signal. And despite the reports of large amounts of Grimm activity she had yet to see so much as a single Beowolf.

It made no sense, and after hearing nothing for about an hour, she was jumping at every rustle of leaves and grass and the gust of the wind.

And that paranoia led to anger.

Why was she so skittish? How could a single man so easily corner her so easily? Why hadn't she seen this coming? Who the fuck did this guy think he was threatening her team and family?! How could she have been so weak? This was Beacon Academy she was studying at! She trained almost every day! For hours on end! How could this happen! Why did this have to happen?

She couldn't stand this fear, this lack of control. She was always in control. Always found a path forward, but now she was cornered.

Ruby glanced back at her team, the group laughing at Weiss' expense as she got some sap on her white combat-skirt.

For a moment, she thought she saw Signal Academy, her sister fraternizing with a bunch of strangers – their eyes cold and deceitful.

Ruby's bangs cast a shadow over her silvery-grey eyes… before they then brightened and literally glowed with determination.

These days were different. She wasn't alone anymore and she didn't have to be. They were her friends. And she would beat whatever this Saffron guy had in store for her and then she could be with them again.

And nothing was going to stop her.

But still…

Ruby glanced worriedly at the forest beyond, 'Where are all of the Grimm?' Having not seen or heard a single one so far was really jarring.

A crack of thunder was heard in the sky, muffled from the lightning it originated from being many, many miles away. She looked up into the sky, confirming that clouds were starting to move in; definitely a thunderstorm was on its way, she determined.

She glanced back to her team, the worried look not leaving her expression, "I have a bad feeling about this." She commented to herself before walking away from the tree and back to her team.


Blake knew herself to be many things, and perceptive was one of them. She could admit that Ruby's eye for observation was superior despite being a human, but that didn't bother her much since it wouldn't do any good to have such jealous feelings. Besides, it would be hypocritical of her - since her Faunus heritage gave her superior eyesight to most humans anyway, who was she to be jealous of what genes others happened to be birthed with? As a Faunus in the current day society, it would be especially hypocritical to look down on another for their genes, and she would know since she was a former member of the White Fang – a group that became corrupted with that very hypocritical and hateful thought.

Anyway, given enough time and observation, she too could put two and two together and she had an inkling that Ruby wasn't calling her a 'Book Cat Ninja' solely based on their first encounter anymore. Blake didn't know if her leader refused to actually confront her on the topic out of respect for her secret or for another reason. The fact Ruby hadn't confronted her filled her with relief and respect for the young leader, and yet also disappointment; relief at not having to have that particular conversation, respect that her leader would be courteous enough to let her have her own privacy, and yet disappointment that despite noticing or having a basic idea that Ruby didn't confront her. A leader needed to know everything relevant to the strengths and weaknesses of her teammates and shouldn't let potential divisions with the team be unresolved.

It was this among a few other facts that made Ruby a conundrum to the Cat Faunus.

Like for instance, during one of the early team practices they all had together, Ruby was quick to designate a second-in-command in case, "I am away from the rest of you guys due to combat, my designated role in a mission, or if I am otherwise incapacitated."

And to the team's varying levels of shock, Ruby choose Blake.


A few weeks after Initiation

Blake blinked in confusion, "W-what?"

Ruby sat across from her, the grass of the field shuffling lightly in the breeze, "I choose you, Blake, to be second in command of team RWBY." She didn't show any aggravation at having repeated herself, which made Blake feel a little better.

"Well," Yang quipped, snapping her fingers in mock disappointment, "can't say I didn't see that one coming."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ruby questioned in mock offense.

Yang shrugged, "It's just you are always so mean to your big sister. So I was pretty confident it wasn't going to be me."

"Yaaang." Ruby whined, like the rest of the team she didn't buy it.

"Fine." Yang conceded, "You choose Blake because she is smart –"

But then Weiss interrupted, "That isn't good enough! I'm quite intelligent if I do say so myself, why wasn't I picked?"

"… and less prone to emotional outbursts." Yang finished. Weiss had the decency to look abashed.

Ruby coughed into her hand to get everyone's attention, "Well, Yang isn't wrong. In fact, she is spot on."

Ruby turned to look at Yang, "Sorry sis, but let's be honest, you are better at making sure orders and combination attacks are carried out rather than planning them out. It's just not your style."

Yang rolled her eyes, but agreed, "Yeah. I'll leave the boring stuff to you two."

Nodding, Ruby then turned over to Weiss, "And Weiss…"

Weiss returned the look, waiting patiently for Ruby's reason so she could give a well-argued rebuttal…

"…well, you're Weiss. Enough said."

A mysterious tumbleweed tumbled across the field.

"Ruby Rose." Weiss called in the most calm and neutral tone imaginable.

"Weiss." Ruby responded with similar tone.

"You have one chance to rephrase that, before I send you back to the Ice Age." Weiss threatened.

Yang gave a nod and thumbs up to that, "Nice. I approve, Ice Queen."

"Don't call me that." The Ice Queen hissed, everyone else taking it in stride. Everyone knew she hated the puns more than the nicknames.

"Okay, okay. Sorry, Weiss, I'm kidding. Kidding." Ruby conceded, "The real reason is that you can be quick to anger and are a little overconfident."

Weiss and Blake blankly stared at her. Blake was the first to comment, "Kettle. Have you met the pot?"

Ruby had the decency to look abashed as well, "Hehe, you're absolutely right, Blake. But it is for that reason that we can't afford Weiss and I to both be in leadership positions – we can think too similarly."

Weiss pouted and demanded, "Explain."

"You and I are both rather confident in our abilities." Ruby explained, "This is not really a bad thing to be, however, we can get to the point of overconfidence. Also, think of it this way, having someone else with similar lines of thinking as my own as a decision maker is a little unnecessary and not the best use of our resources. Blake is much more skeptical of everything in general, and her first thought when presented with an idea is to question and evaluate it, even if it is her own idea."

Ruby smiled, as if triumphant, "It's a good counter that will ensure my ideas stay within the realms of reality. Good old blunt logic."

Blake knew that was said in good faith, however, "That was rather blunt logic. You are denying Weiss 2nd in command because she is too like yourself. " She smirked.

Ruby found the comment to be hilarious and soon enough all of them, even Weiss, joined in the group laughter.


Present

Blake herself, however, was still surprised at the time, because she knew even then that Ruby knew she was hiding something. So to put her in such an important tactical position surprised her. Ruby justified herself at that time saying, "I needed someone smart yet also level-headed enough to make decisions if I am not available, and to help keep me in check if I am too overconfident. Someone I can trust to watch over you all in my potential absence. I know Blake can do all of the above."

Blake had later that day confronted her younger leader, asking her to potentially reconsider, "How do you know you can trust me? You barely know anything about me. You know I'm –"

Ruby interrupted, "Hiding something?"

Blake nodded in surprise.

Ruby shrugged, "We all have something to hide, you will tell us in time if need be. It would be hypocritical of me to force you to unwillingly spill your secrets when I too have my own. Besides, I don't need to know everything about you to trust you."

Ruby looked away, "You are running, hiding from something - someone. It's why you are distant, like I am sometimes." Ruby looked back at her, "With people with you or under your command, you won't have to face whatever it is alone anymore. I'm starting to get that, a little bit anyway. That's why I want you as my number 2."

Blake's focus returned to the present as she noticed Ruby returning to the group. And she narrowed her eyes slightly, 'What are you now hiding, Ruby?'

Ruby motioned for her to take a step away from the rest, and Blake nodded and took a few steps away from the group with Ruby.

Blake put a hand on her hip, "Anything?"

Ruby shook her head, "It's been quiet. Too quiet. I have a bad feeling about all of this. Grimm don't just wander around in such large numbers in the Forever Fall but are yet also nowhere to be found. Someone is attracting them. Make sure no matter what that you three stick together; if I am separated don't come to me unless I call for you. Crescent Rose is sometimes best when there are no friendlies too close."

Blake raised an eyebrow questioningly, "Are you sure that is wise? If the Grimm are as numerous as implied, shouldn't we stick together?"

Ruby hesitated, but argued, "In most cases yes, but if anything I have a few trump cards that are best used when no one is too close." Ruby patted her utility belt and Blake got the message. Ruby wasn't that great at controlling Dust like Weiss was after all.

Blake still found the order odd, but conceded, "Fine, but if something happens you better be alright. I don't think I can handle leading those two on my own forever."

Ruby grinned, "You underestimate yourself, Blake. I think you'd be a great leader."

Blake glanced away for a moment, thinking of the White Fang, "I'm not so sure about that."

Ruby gasped comically, "Blake not sure about something? Has the moon stopped rotating? Where is the witty retort?"

Before Blake could respond, Ruby slinked around her and settled against her side, "Oh ye of little faith!"

Ruby's shit eating grin froze Blake with trepidation, and Ruby continued, "Fear not! Even if your witty retorts fail to command the troops, you always have the Bellabooty to fall back on!" Ruby proceeded to grope said 'Bellabooty' to emphasize the point, sending a massive blush to Blake's face and was that a nosebleed she felt?

Ruby finished, "No one would dare refuse the Bellabooty!"

Blake was still frozen at that reality of her current situation/position when Ruby turned to the other members of team RWBY that were now watching them. Ruby questioned, "Am I not wrong?"

Yang was trying and failing to not laugh at Blake's current situation, an almost unnoticeable blush on her face.

Weiss, however, was as Ruby's cloak, and stuttered, "Y-you fiend! When will you ever learn to keep your hands to yourself?!"

"You love it." Ruby protested, making a groping motion with her hands, having released Blake from her earlier position.

"N-NO! WE DON'T." Weiss protested loudly, not very convincingly either in Ruby's opinion.

Ruby chuckled to herself with that same shit eating grin, one that proudly declared unspoken she knew that Weiss was only digging a deeper hole to bury herself in.

Blake's own blush settled down and she wiped away the blood when no one was looking, "Ruby… please try to not do that again."

Ruby shrugged, "No promises."

Blake sighed and took a page out of her leader's book, "Troublesome."

But the banter would not last as suddenly three members of team CRDL slid down a small nearby cliff, yelling a single word that froze all of team JNPR and RWBY.

"GRIMM!"


Glynda Goodwitch was alone in the Forever Fall Forest, not too surprising a fact considering her earlier words. It may be her job to make sure none of the students die whilst in the forest, she couldn't then personally watch over them if they are given the freedom to roam around. And in hindsight, her stricter nature typically repelled students from being near her in the first place, so it was expected for them to try and stay away from her.

The solution to this dilemma of being unable to personally watch over them all was to monitor their locations via their scrolls. If groups suddenly flee an area, or move around too erratically in a set area, it can be deduced that they may be running from Grimm or under attack and in combat, respectively. Of course, this can result in false calls, and the teams just engaging in hijinks, but it worked.

So she was understandably on guard when the feed displaying everyone's location suddenly went dead.

Her eyes narrowed at this. They may be outside the range scrolls can pick up Vale's CCT tower, but they were nearby one of the CCT relay stations. It couldn't be a connection problem, unless the village housing the tower was under attack, which was unlikely the case – the signs of battle in that village would have been audible enough to echo throughout the forest, even despite the noises created by the oncoming storm overhead. That left only one other option.

She was under cyber-attack.

Realizing that she or someone the in group was under attack, she made to move out to the last known location of the largest group of students, but paused, sensing a new presence.

Without warning, Glynda pulled out her riding crop and fired a telekinetic blast at the presence before her. To her irritation, the presence dodged the attack. Calmly, Glynda demanded, "Show yourself."

From multiple points around the clearing, figures nonchalantly entered the clearing.

Glynda noted that they were all females, and that interestingly enough despite these newcomers being anywhere from 15 to 24 years old they all had the same body type. They all wore a white mask to hide their faces, each mask having a different design with a different color on them. Their hair seemed to have the same consistency, but was colored and styled in a variety of ways. Another universal observation was that all of these mysterious attackers were Faunus with rabbit ears. Their outfits were dark grey and form fitting, possibly insulated, as well as light metal armor on their thighs, calves, forearms, and chest.

They all wielded katana-like swords, there wasn't any visible signs that it was a mecha-shift weapon. Their utility belts suggested they had a few other tools at their disposal as well.

It was after this observation that the identity of her attackers was clearer. There were widely accepted rumors that the description of Phantom, a mysterious assassin and thief who had killed anyone from gang leaders, to high-ranking members of the White Fang, to high-up officials in Vale and Vacuo and Mistral, was a masked Rabbit Faunus. The rumors, of course, were never verified and nor was the Phantom caught; nevertheless the bounty for their head was quite high. The description of the Phantom is also closely tied to the description of the Bunny Thief who is known to have stolen lien to dust to computer equipment to medicinal equipment of all things. It's widely accepted the Bunny Thief's semblance is some sort of clone technique, the irony. (1)

Glynda raised an eyebrow at the attacker in front of her, "The Phantom Bunny Thief? To what to I owe… the pleasure of this meeting?"

The lead attacker in front of her tilted her head to the side, and then spoke, "Oh? Ya know, I should have expected someone like you to connect the dots, Glynda-san!"

The Bunny Thief then lifted up her weapon, pointing it to the sky, her arm at a 90 degree angle. "My dear, dear, dearest *ahem* Business Associate is right about you people. So easily lead around."

"Oh?" Glynda questioned, "Care to enlighten me then?"

The Bunny Thief giggled, seemingly amused with their conversation so far, "But Glynda-san! That would be telling! And if I spill the beans as it is said, then the game known as life would get so dull." (2)

The Bunny Thief then shrugged her arms in a 'whatever' motion, "Anyway, you should focus on the current turn. Because I am here to not so subtly keep you occupied, something I am sure you determined by now, Glynda-san."

Glynda nodded, that much was indeed true at that point. "Well then." Glynda calmly readjusted her glasses, "Weren't you ever told that it is rude to separate a teacher from her class?"

The Bunny Thief chuckled, "Don't you know that the students love those moments when the teacher leaves the room?" The Bunny Thief then pointed her sword at the blond professor, "Sorry Glynda-san, but I can't let you interfere. The sooner I beat you, the sooner I figure out what the real Phantom is planning. He should really share more."

Glynda nonchalantly blocked an attack that immediately came from behind her, she deadpanned, "Interrupting the teacher? Maybe I'll have to send you to the principal's office."

The lead Bunny Thief sighed, apparently done playing the verbal game, "Fine. Do it the hard way, girls."

The other figures charged, Glynda was ready.


About Five Minutes Prior…

There were many things that Jaune had drilled into his memory during his time at Beacon Academy. Things like: Nora loves pancakes, Weiss is tsundere and hard to get, Ruby makes most people feel stupid.

A more recent addition was the unpleasant feeling of Cardin's fist in his face.

Cardin looked down on Jaune, grinning slightly, "You know, that wasn't very smart of you Jauney-boy."

Cardin then picked Jaune off the ground, Jaune too beat up to resist, "I'm gonna make sure to send you back to mommy in teeny, tiny, pieces. The kicker is Glynda will easily buy that it was the Grimm who did it to you too before sending you packing."

Jaune simultaneously sighed and groaned, "I don't care what you do to me." He then leaned his head forward, a determined, defiant glint in his eye, "But you are not messing with my friends."

Carding huffed in contempt, "And what? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you are a big strong man now? 'Fraid to be the bearer of bad news, but will alone won't do much for you without the strength to back it up."

Jaune chuckled, grinning defiantly with his remaining energy. And if it was his goal to piss off Cardin further, it succeeded.

Carding went to slug Jaune across the face once more, but before he made contact a flash of white light permeated the clearing and left as soon as it came.

Cardin dropped Jaune in pain, recoiled by some force.

Jaune, after bouncing slightly from the fall, noticed with awe that his wounds and bruises had suddenly healed. However, he didn't have much to ponder this turn of events as Sky Lark kicked him onto his stomach.

The rest of team CRDL stood around him, and Cardin addressed, "I'm not sure what that was, but let's see how much of a man you really are."

Before anyone could act or comment further, a load growling came from the tree line.

Cardin and his team turned around in shock to see three large Ursa enter the clearing, pausing five meters away to take notice of their surroundings. The Ursa in the center was massive in comparison to the others, with armor plating spotting its arms and legs and back, large pointy spikes also protruding from its back as well.

It was an Ursa Major.

Attracted by the hate and malicious intent of team CRDL the Ursa were attracted to the clearing, but once entering the clearing they noticed a particularly strong and sweet smell. They quickly identified it as coming from Cardin, which the Grimm – if they had higher thought processes – would have appreciated the combination of their favorite sweets and favorite pastime of killing humans.

Sans Cardin, the rest of team CRDL immediately decided now was a good time to flee, "That's a big Ursa!"

Cardin, however, was frozen in place due to the massive Grimm only a few meters in front of him. And it was right as he realized he should do something that the Ursa Major batted him to the side with its massive claw.

Still attracted to the combination of malice and red sap, all three Ursa focused their attention to the larger male, ignoring Jaune who was still on the ground in surprise.

Noticing that the Grimm were leaving him be, for the moment, he got off the ground and watched as the Grimm quickly disarmed Cardin of his weapon as soon as he drew his mace.

Cardin, realizing his unfavorable position, quickly rolled backwards and got himself onto his feet and reasonably made the decision to run away from the behemoth of an Ursa.

However, the beast decided to surprise everyone by shoeing it could jump quite high and far, leaping into the air to turn and land in front a Cardin landing another devastating claw strike, that would have killed a man without the protection of aura; the blow sent Cardin flying onto his back a few meters away.

Only about 5% of his aura remaining, Cardin struggled to crawl away from the Ursa, unable to stand, the other smaller Ursa staying nearby to prevent a flank.

Cardin turned around, realizing that he couldn't get away before the Grimm attacked again. He watched as the Ursa Major lifted its claw, and struck…

Only to be intercepted by Jaune's shield.

Jaune grimaced, struggling to match the strength of the Ursa Major, having taken all of the swing's momentum and channeling it into the ground through himself and his shield.

The two smaller Ursa made a move to attack, but stopped as the Ursa Major growled. Apparently the Ursa, whilst dumb, were able to obey orders from an older, more experienced Grimm. And apparently the Ursa Major wanted to deal with this 'pest' itself.

The Ursa Major continued to try and crush the blond, but Jaune noticed that it was preparing a swing with its other claw. Taking the initiative, Jaune broke the combat lock and swung Crocea Mors, striking the Grimm across the chest – sending it reeling momentarily.

The Ursa Major quickly recovered and launched another swipe, Jaune dodged by rolling to the side, ending in a standing position.

Undeterred, the Ursa struck again, this time Jaune jumped over the attack, something he quickly regretted as the Ursa Major struck him with its other claw while he was still in the air. However, Jaune took the blow in stride and rolled back to his feet.

Jaune noted that the Ursa Major preferred to attack with its claws, and didn't move much whilst actually executing the attack. It would jump after him if he got too far, and was too plated to attack its back. Attacking from the front was unfortunately his only option, particularly the head itself. After remembering that the Ursa Major has shown to be able to fall for a single feint, but not a series of them, Jaune got an idea.

The Ursa Major decided to actively go on the offensive and charged. Jaune crouched slightly and held his position. Right as the Grimm began its swing, he dropped and rolled backwards and then immediately charged in after the swing passed.

Unfortunately, the Ursa ducked its head, causing his blade to harmlessly scrape against its head plating. Not appreciating the attempt to kill it, the Grimm swung its claw back, knocking Jaune several meters to the side.

Quickly getting up, Jaune realized that the Grimm was smart enough and quick enough to get through such a simple tactic. Checking his aura levels, he realized he couldn't take another hit thanks to Cardin's efforts earlier, combined with the hits he had taken so far.

So he realized that he needed a plan so stupid that the Grimm wouldn't expect it.

So as the Grimm charged, foreseeing the fight as a forgone conclusion, Jaune decided to charge the beast as well.

As the Grimm leapt slightly from its charge to attack, Jaune crouched down at the last moment for the swing to fly over his head and in one fell swoop, swung his blade in return and took off the Ursa Major's head.

He rolled to the side as the corpse fell towards him and onto the ground.

Jaune took a breath of relief, glad that the huge Grimm was out of the picture, but was put back on his guard as the two other Ursa roared in disapproval. Jaune prepared himself to reengage, when two loud consecutive bangs shot through the air, implanting themselves right through the heads of the Grimm and sending them back to ashes.

Determining the shot came from behind him; he turned whilst sheathing his sword, and noticed it was Ruby Rose – Crescent Rose extended into its Sniper Rifle mode. He smiled and nodded to Ruby in thanks, to which she reciprocated the gesture and began slowly walking towards him.

Jaune turned, before Ruby had approached him, and picked up Cardin by grabbing his hand and holding onto it.

Cardin smiled slightly, almost sheepishly, "…Holy crap, Jaune."

But Jaune didn't quite accept the compliment so easily, and commanded, "Don't ever mess with my team, my friends, ever again."

Jaune paused, watching Cardin's expression of submission, impassively. "Got it?"

Cardin nodded, "R-right."

It was then that Ruby came up to them. "Nice bonding moment guys, but we have a situation."

"Oh!" Jaune started surprised, "What's going on?"

Ruby answered, "It would seem that the Grimm have finally decided to make their move. The other teams are currently engaged with a 'small' hoard of Grimm. I'm taking advantage of my speed and long-distance capabilities to thin out Grimm reinforcements, and to make sure you guys were alright."

Ruby addressed the both of them, "The way back to teams CRDL, JNPR, and RWBY should be clear, but stay on your guard. I'll continue thinning out their numbers."

Jaune understandably worried, recognized they probably didn't have time to argue, "Right, stay safe Ruby."

Ruby smirked in response, "Worry about yourself a little more Barf Boy."

Jaune stammered indignantly and countered, "Whatever, Chili Pepper."

Ruby pouted indignantly, but before Jaune could laugh, Ruby cocked her weapon for emphasis on how she felt about that comment and Jaune decided to keep his humor to himself.

Turning to Cardin he addressed, "Let's go."

Cardin picked up his mace and nodded, "Right."

With that, the two went back the way from which Ruby came, Jaune sneaking a look back as he left.

Watching them leave, Ruby briefly recalled what had happened just a few minutes prior…


"GRIMM!"

Teams RWBY and JNPR, sans Jaune of course, turned to the source of the cry to find team CRDL, sans Cardin which was odd, running in their direction.

Russel Thrush, Sky Lark, and Dove Bronzewing came to a stop before the squad of teams and began to pant from exertion.

Ruby stepped forward, "What happened? You were attacked by Grimm?"

Russel spoke up, still panting slightly, "U-ursa. It was the biggest Ursa I've ever seen."

'Sounds like an Ursa Major, possibly,' Ruby thought to herself.

Russel continued, "It was back there. It's got Cardin. B-but there's more coming, I'm surprised their not-"

Before Russel could finish his statement, the universe decided to prove him right, as a pack of Beowolves emerged from the tree line the same direction CRDL came from.

Without hesitation, Ruby removed Crescent Rose from its place, and in a single motion extended it into its Sniper Rifle mode. Rapidly taking aim, Ruby fired and instantly killed 3 of the Grimm with a headshot; leaving behind another 4 as the rest of her rapid shots missed.

Before Ruby could unleash another salvo, Weiss and Yang unleashed a salvo of dust attacks and dust rounds respectively taking out the rest of the pack before they could respond to Ruby's initial attack.

Loud roars rang out around the clearing, revealing the fact that it was more than a simple pack of Beowolves was upon them, but most of the Grimm in the forest.

Everyone in the clearing froze at the sound. It was an inhuman sound, striking the primal fears that early man developed in response to the threat of Grimm. A primordial song of hate, death, and bloodlust. A symphony of anger and aggression. And it was upon them.

Realizing their situation, Ruby suddenly remembered words uttered to her earlier that day, "Sometime during your visit there will be a large commotion in the woods and you will know it when you see it. "

Ruby paled, her eyes widening slightly in horror, 'He's the source of the unusual population of Grimm! He purposely attracted them here!' A small part of her had to admit that Saffron was well prepared, having spent a month attracting Grimm just for this confrontation – just to distract the rest of the people 'visiting' the forest at the time.

Gritting her teeth, Ruby realized it was now time to act. She turned to Blake, "I'm going to go make sure Jaune and Cardin are alright. Then I'll try to flank the Grimm and lessen their reinforcements. Only I have the speed and long-range power to do it. Remember what I told you."

Blake clearly wasn't pleased with the news, but clearly understood that Ruby was the only one who could get past the Grimm about to surround them. Blake nodded, "Right, we'll hold them off here. Not like we have much choice in the matter."

"Say hi to Barf Boy for me." Yang commented cheekily.

"It would hurt team JNPR's and RWBY's performance if they lost a team member. " Weiss stated matter-of-factly, "Please don't hurt mine and Pyrrha's grades with your recklessness."

Ruby embraced Weiss, "I knew you cared about me!"

Weiss blushed and stammered indignantly, "D-don't misinterpret me, you fiend! Just…" Weiss looked to the side, "You dying on me would be… troublesome."

Deciding to give Weiss a brake, Ruby stepped away, "Right. I'll be back."

As if realizing that the heroes were done talking, Grimm of all shapes and sizes burst through into the clearing; Beowolves and Ursai, Boarbatusk and King Taijitu, and a murder of Nevermore soared overhead.

Everyone activated their respective weapons, and Blake called out to Ruby, "Go!"

With a nod, Ruby turned and in a flurry of rose petals, she pierced through the line of Grimm – decapitating a few heads as she passed and went deeper into the forest.

With a blink, she realized she didn't really push her teammates away that well.

The others had no time to watch or comment, as the Grimm were quickly upon them, and all they knew was battle.


Back to the present

Ruby brought her focus back to herself and her surroundings. Waiting for this supposed 'sign'.

Ruby took a moment to enjoy the peace while it lasted. She looked at the red trees and crimson grass. She remembered landing in the Bullhead and seeing the forest as a sea of redness. The image was further solidified as the wind made the trees rustle and shake like waves. She felt the wind now, flowing and ebbing without a care in the world.

It was just like her Semblance in a way, a rustle of red followed by exercised power in the form of speed and acceleration.

But her peace was interrupted as a presence was suddenly spotted in her senses. Looking around, Ruby examined the clearing for the intruder. She quickly determined that it wasn't a Grimm, as their mere presence can insight the internal emotions of fear and anxiety.

She then heard a rustle up in the trees, a noise she dare-say claim to have been made intentionally. Quickly turning to the sound she saw a silhouette of a man.

Ruby was given pause as a bullet zipped through the air… and struck right threw her pocket – the pocket that coincidentally contained her scroll, which a quick pat confirmed it's now broken state.

Ruby returned her complete attention to the figure in the trees. Ruby bristled as the figure waved at her, 'The nonchalance of this guy is beyond mere aggravation.'

However, despite her anger, she recognized that this must be the 'sign'. During the commotion there will be a sign, also equally obvious; you will follow this sign deeper into the forest and do so alone.

The figure, apparently aware that Ruby was aware of the situation, leapt backwards through the trees. Ruby gave chase, eyes glinting with determination and righteous fury. Nothing was going to stand in her way.

Trees and upon trees flew by in a blur as she ran, the figure before her somehow perfectly jumping from tree to tree and always staying ahead.

They ran for several minutes passing a few Grimm that Ruby would have dealt with if the figure was slowed by the plants littering the forest floor below.

As they entered a clearing, the figure disappeared as quickly as they first arrived. Ruby was momentarily perplexed, but those thought processes were put to a halt as several Grimm entered the clearing, growling and roaring their displeasure at the site of humanity.

Ruby tsk'ed in annoyance. She didn't have time to keep dealing with Grimm. She wanted to take care of whoever this spy/tech-master was and get back to the others. These Grimm were young, easily dispatch-able, but Ruby wasn't patient enough to do it the old fashioned way.

Calling upon the power within her, she faced the Grimm, "You're in my way, begone!" And the power within answered her command, and tendrils of Silver Energy sprung fourth from her Silver Eyes and formed a wave that washed over the Grimm; the Grimm were frozen like statues, and began to dissolve like a sand structure not hardened by water.

The Silver Energy receded, and Ruby was barely affected, so little Grimm were easy for her eyes to take care of.

It was then a chuckling rang out through the clearing, and simultaneously Ruby could sense a presence in the clearing.

Ruby called out, "Show yourself!"

"Fine." The voice responded, and the figure walked out from the other side of the clearing revealing…

"Yomi?" Ruby questioned as she released a breath, having recognized the figure and was genuinely surprised.

'Yomi' had thick, saffron colored hair that reaches to his chin - two sizable strands of hair framing his face. He had two fangs visibly protruding from his upper lip. His eye color was hidden behind heavily gold-tinted, wire-framed sunglasses with goggle sidings.

'Yomi' wore a black suit and a slightly large and bulky black overcoat. He also wore a contrastingly white collared shirt and a yellow necktie. Finally he had a black fedora with a comically large, wide, and floppy brim.

'Yomi' chuckled, "Oh, so you know that persona. Yes, I guess I'm Yomi, but not quite. You more recently have known me as… Saffron."

"What?!" Ruby's eyes widened and she retrieved Crescent Rose and got into her battle stance. "So you finally show yourself?!"

"Hmm?" Saffron grunted, "Woah, so ready to get into it, huh? Someone doesn't like being in control." Saffron then suddenly jumped backwards to avoid a suddenly attacking Ruby.

Ruby didn't follow up the attack, "Don't screw around with me!"

Saffron chuckled a little again, "Sorry, but it's my job to screw with people. But, I'll say, I'm a little surprised you aren't trying to pry for more information."

Ruby scoffed, "Like you'll answer."

Saffron shrugged, "I might slip something, however."

Ruby narrowed her eyes, "Unlikely, you don't seem the type."

Saffron smirked, "Maybe you have a point. However, I would rather try to have a civilized conversation before we get into the fighting."

Saffron adjusted his sunglasses, more for making the motion than the need to adjust his eyewear, "Oh! A good way to lessen the tension would be a sincere compliment!" Saffron focused his gaze on Ruby's eyes, "Your ocular abilities truly are a sight to behold, much more thrilling than seeing them through a drone camera."

Ruby put two and two together, "So you were the initial hacker." It wasn't a question.

Saffron nodded, "Yes, ever since you clashed with the infamous Roman Torchwick, you have been a target." Saffron lost his smile, "And you will only gain more and more enemies."

"Like you?" Ruby questioned.

"Perhaps." Saffron somewhat answered, "Whether they will be greater or lesser foes are up for you to judge, I suppose. And hey, who said I was your enemy?"

Ruby deadpanned, "You cyber stalked me for months and have not only poisoned me, but my teammates. Most consider that hostile activity."

Saffron put a hand to his chin in mock thought, "Whelp. You've got a point there. I'm going to assume you won't believe me when I say it was for your benefit?"

"No." Ruby blandly replied.

Saffron recoiled as if struck, "So harsh…"

Ruby, whilst slightly amused was mostly still tense and so asked, "Why have you been targeting me?"

Saffron looked disappointed with the question, "I think you already know the 'why'."

Ruby rolled her eyes, obviously she was targeted for her eyes, "Then who hired you?"

"Honestly," Saffron shrugged, "I have no clue. I don't even know the gender of the person who hired me, their voice, or their face. You could say I was blackmailed, but you could also say I wanted to do the job anyway."

Ruby realized then that it meant that he didn't answer her question, "If that is the case, then you do you yourself want? What do you gain for targeting me and my abilities?"

Saffron smirked, "I would say that they are a little abstract, and will make more sense after they are completed. Unhelpful I realize, but…" He smirked further, "I'm not telling."

Ruby growled in frustration, this lack of straight answers was pissing her off, "Then if you don't feel like talking, let's get to the fighting!"

"Hmph." Saffron grunted, as he removed his sniper rifle from his back, the mecha-shift activating and transitioning into a single-edged straight sword and scabbard – Ruby noted it was similar to a chokutō blade, with some variance. He held the sword in his right hand, and the scabbard – the closed end facing behind him – in his left.

"Beat the answers out of me, huh?" Saffron rhetorically questioned, "We'll see how long that is your only motivation."

To the untrained eye, Ruby phased out of existence, but Saffron managed to see the movement and rolled out of the way of a descending swing from Crescent Rose. Finishing the roll in a standing position, Saffron jumped away, dodging Ruby's follow-up attack.

Ruby, using her speed as her advantage, keep up the assault, however, Saffron either barely dodged or parried all of her attacks.

Getting some distance, Saffron commented, "Even now, while holding back you are still so fast; if I didn't know your fighting style so well this would be a lot more difficult." That was what a majority of the past week was for him. Observing from afar her fighting style. The time Ruby thought she heard coughing? That was him. And it was for this fight. He knew he wasn't the best at direct combat, but knowing her style while she didn't know how he fought was his advantage.

Ruby smirked and taunted, "Speed is my specialty, I don't plan on letting you land a single hit, not that you seem to be able to dish out any."

"Don't mistake my lack of offense as cowardice." Saffron warned, "I know you are smart enough to realize we are merely both gauging each other." He wasn't wrong, Ruby was gauging his fighting abilities as well. And fortunately for Ruby, she too realized that Saffron was barely keeping up and she hadn't even used her semblance yet. Saffron was only able to dodge and parry since he expected the attacks, having studied her style rigorously.

"And you don't feel very threating in actual combat." Ruby rebuttled with a taunt.

Saffron smirked, "Maybe I want you to underestimate me?" Ruby could tell it was logic mixed in as a lie or half-truth, he was barely keeping up.

Saffron suddenly jumped back, slightly knocked back as his aura resisted against Ruby's blade.

Ruby commented on this, "You seem more used to poisoning and harassing your targets from afar as opposed to fighting up close. What are you playing at?"

Saffron continued to dodge frantically as Ruby then continued her assault, applying bursts of her Semblance to get the drop on him dealing some light damage. Saffron's intelligence on her being all that turned full-blown attacks into scratching hits. Saffron took action and prevented her from dealing any more damage by smacking her away with his scabbard.

"Hmph," Saffron grunted in annoyance, "You are annoyingly fast. I'm afraid I cannot allow you to continue to control this battle." He couldn't afford to keep fighting like this and taking more hits. It was time to get serious.

"Oh?" Ruby questioned with a raised eye, "And how are you going to do that?" It didn't look or feel like he was able to go much faster, Ruby analyzed, he was at a limit. How would he counter?

Saffron's sudden large and tooth-filled smile was creepy and did not bode well. Saffron dramatically held his arms out wide, "Like this." And like that, he vanished from her sight and senses.

Ruby's eyes widened, "What?!" Where did he go? Was that a speed semblance?!

Ruby went into a defensive stance, waiting for any sign/ direction of attack, but was met with complete silence. Ruby was suddenly overcome with a feeling of dread, the silence only broken by the wind rustling leaves, as she couldn't figure out where he was.

Saffron's voice broke the silence from behind her, almost uttering the words like a whisper, "Eight Points."

"Huh?!" Ruby spun around… but no one was there.

Saffron spoke again but this time stronger, his and location somehow still a mystery, "Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart."

Ruby tried to figure out where Saffron was, but his voice would pause and suddenly come from a different direction and trying to sense him through aura worked to no avail.

Everything paused as Ruby felt a blade gently poke her back, directly behind from her heart, "Which point will I use to end your life?"

Frantically, Ruby called on her semblance to avoid any follow-up on the threat. Desperately searching the environment, to Ruby's growing fear and apprehension, Saffron was still nowhere to be seen.

Ruby gasped in pain as her aura defended her against an unseen attack, knocking her to the ground, dropping Crescent Rose. She tried to stand, but was knocked up, away, and back to the ground for her effort.

She tried to get up once more, but what familiarly felt like a foot shoved her head back into the dirt, the dusty, earthy dirt getting in her mouth caused her to spit and gasp for breath.

"Is this all you have?" Saffron's voice somehow questioned from above her, Ruby's glances upwards revealing nothing but the cloudy sky. "Is that all the fight in you?"

Ruby's eyes widened as she realized, that yes it was a foot pushing her into the ground and yes that voice came from above her, 'It's not a speed semblance! He's invisible!'

Striking out blindly with her elbow, struck Saffron's invisible other leg, knocking him off of her, and made a mad dash over to her main weapon.

A loud-ish thump confirming that something unseen hit the ground and was quite capable of making sound in an unseen state. However, at a speed that was unnaturally fast, Saffron caught up to and again attacked Ruby before she could get to Crescent Rose.

Having somewhat expected the attack, Ruby was able to use the momentum from being hit into rolling into a standing position. Hoping to buy some time to think, Ruby questioned, "Why are you trying to kill me now?! Why not have done it back in Beacon? Why risk your life so needlessly when you so easily could have done it then, huh?!" Ruby knew the answer was obvious, he didn't want to make a big scene at Beacon and have them further increase their security, but him talking meant less attacking.

Unexpectedly, Saffron ignored her and posed a question, "Why are you training to become a Huntress, Red?"

Ruby's confusion was evident, "Huh?" The hell was he asking that now of all times?

Saffron continued, "You doing it for money? Glory? Or perhaps for more power? Do you fancy yourself a hero? Or do you have an agenda?"

Still putting together a plan, Ruby decided to humor this conversation and saw no reason to lie, but Saffron interrupted before she could speak, "You really need to figure out what you want on your own. I've read that journal you have. You think your mother left you a path to follow? That you should go and save the world? Considering what she did in the Faunus War, I thought it would be obvious…"

Ruby frowned, "What the hell are you taking about?"

Saffron continued, "It's ironic, a woman who killed so many during the Faunus War laying down a path to peace sounds hilarious."

Ruby grit her teeth, "What are you talking about? I never saw any entries like that about the Faunus War."

Saffron chuckled, "Summer Rose was quite smart it would seem, her latter entries in particular are encrypted – holding more entries. Some were done this way to hide secret information; others held things she was ashamed of. By the way, how does it feel by the way to know your mother is a killer? Just. Like. Me?"

Ruby's frown deepened, if he was visible she would have attacked, since he was unseen all she could do was stew in anger at that taunt. The fact that there were secret entries within the journal was both interesting and disturbing – particularly considering the implications of Saffron's claims. Ruby repeated a question from earlier, trying to buy more time and steer the topic away from the implications that were bothering her, "Why are you fighting me? Trying to kill me?"

"You want to know so bad?" Saffron questioned rhetorically, "The truth is, that all of this is a test. Multiple tests really. And let me tell you, you aren't scoring that well."

Ruby grit her teeth, "Then I'll just have to beat the crap out of you so I can have the cheat sheet."

Somehow Saffron grunted in a way that almost seemed like approval, "Idiot."

Ruby screamed in slight pain and surprise as she was suddenly attacked from behind. Saffron called out as she once more fell to the ground, gaining small cuts due to her aura not being properly prepared to defend, "Don't drop your guard, this fight isn't over." He failed to notice her prone form retrieve something from her utility belt.

Ruby groaned, "You seem to be doing more talking then fighting."

Ruby jumped forward from her prone position, barely evading another unseen attack. From nearby Saffron remarked, "Then let's do more fighting."

Ruby turned to the direction Saffron had attacked from, grinning, "Right then! Come at me!"

Seeing no reason to not oblige, the still unseen and otherwise undetected attacker went in for the next attack. However, to his surprise, Ruby jumped upwards right as he approached and revealed what she sneakily retrieved from her pouch.

Saffron's eyes widened in shock and surprise, 'Dust crystals?!'

Indeed, Ruby was holding a handful of wind based dust crystals, fire crystals were in her other hand. Ruby smirked internally as she thanked herself for grabbing the extra supplies:

"Hurry up she says…" Ruby grumbles, "Who was it that decided to sleep in and have her team leader go and get her food in bed? Ungrateful Ice Queen. Why do I do the things I do for that woman?"

"What was that?" Weiss questioned, not hearing what Ruby said but had an idea.

"Nothing!" Ruby denied quickly, sarcasm was one thing, but sass was not something that Weiss tolerated so easily. That and she didn't quite want to admit to the implications at the end of her statement…

Pocketing the cross she kept onto dearly, she went off to go get Crescent Rose and a few other things to attempt to prepare for was bound to happen later that day.

She had decided to properly arm herself for any altercation, and so grabbed a few extra rounds of magazines as well as a few handfuls of dust crystals. Technically they were Weiss', but Ruby was sure she wouldn't mind have sharing considering the circumstances.

Calling upon her aura and feeding it into the crystals, Ruby haphazardly aimed a blast of wind below her – that which upon hitting the ground then angled sideways, essentially knocking back anything in the clearing.

Less than a second after activating the wind-dust, Ruby released the fire-dust. The fire blast latched onto the wave of wind, due to the elemental combination and the lingering aura belonging to the same person. Essentially resulting in a wave of wind that rocked the field and then exploding before it dissipated.

Ruby had managed to notice during the dust attack - that was lucky enough to have worked as she hoped it would, herself only being a novice in Dust use and having done the equivalent of pulling the pin on two grenades, throwing them, and hoping they worked – was that Saffron 'de-cloaked' during the explosion and was sent into the tree-line. On that note, the adjacent tree-line was somewhat on fire. The burning and rustling of leaves combined with the crackling of burning wood. Most of the grass was incinerated, but the patches of red grass dotted around.

Deciding she had a moment to spare, she eyed the clearing to see if she could spot Crescent Rose. She saw it near the edge of the clearing, and after approaching and further investigation, she determined that she was lucky and the fire blast hadn't managed to particularly hit Crescent Rose so the weapon was safe to carry and not over-heated.

It was after picking up her precious that she heard a rustling from the other side of the clearing, where she last saw Saffron.

While he was still only a silhouette in her sight he said, "Welp. I didn't see that one coming. You never really showed proficiency or preference with Dust. So I ruled it out as a method of strategy. Once again, my own arrogance has gotten the better of me. How annoying."

Now that he was no longer cloaked, Ruby could get a feel for his aura; he must have been draining it quite a bit whilst using it, because combined with blocking that explosion he might as well be out of aura. Definitely in the 'red' zone. Any other attacks on him would do more actual physical damage.

Ruby called him out on this, "You seem rather calm for someone who has lost."

Saffron chuckled as he almost got back into the light of the clearing, "Hmm? Not quite yet. 'Tis be just a flesh wound."

Saffron then stepped fully back into the clearing and Ruby's eyes widened in surprise at the sight.

His hat was completely missing. He was bleeding slightly from some head injury and appeared to have bitten something within his mouth as he was bleeding slight from there was well. His goggled sunglasses were shattered and were dangling from a single temple and end-piece from his right ear; they revealed eyes that glowed yellow with a vertical slit for a pupil. From his left arm he held his black overcoat, burned to taters, and was beyond repair – he let go of the useless article of clothing and let it fall to the ground.

The most surprising thing was what the overcoat seemed to have been hiding all this time. For protruding from his back were two large webbed wings, just like a bat's, and they were convincing enough to be capable of flight.

Saffron took a spit take, its coloring being like the red grass that used to occupy the clearing, and smirked at her expression, "Some fighters are too zealous to allow the fear of death to stop them from fighting. But allow me to reintroduce myself. My given name is Saffron Chiroptera. It truly has been a pleasure so far, no?"

Ruby was still stunned at there not only being a Faunus with more than one animal attribute, but one who had wings large enough to be proportionally sound with his body.

However, Ruby noticed that despite his confident expression, Saffron was visible shaking – struggling slightly to stay upright. Realizing that this had to be the end or he would seriously hurt himself, something Ruby couldn't justify to herself, Ruby tried to talk him down, "Y-you can barely stand. Put down your weapon now. We don't have to keep on fighting. Turn yourself in."

Saffron raised an eyebrow and questioned, ignoring Ruby's demand, "Seriously? You aren't the least bit curious about these wings of mine? I go through all the trouble of hiding them in plain sight day in and day out, and you don't care? What a mood killer."

Saffron sighed to himself, further perplexing Ruby with his nonchalant attitude in the face in defeat, "Whatever, you are going to be changing your tune in a few minutes."

"Huh?" Ruby questioned, confused at the confident declaration.

"Your tune or tone of peaceful mercy," Saffron moaned in annoyance, still peeved Ruby didn't initiate a rant where he could talk about himself. "I can guarantee you won't be keeping it for much longer. I'm admittedly a little surprised besmirching your mother with truths didn't enrage you earlier."

Ruby gave a questioning look, apprehension slowly building in the back of her mind, "Oh?"

Saffron, without a word, ripped off his suit coat, only leaving the colored shirt and tie as his upper-body wear. Now noticeably visible on his wrist was some sort of device. It was 7.6 centimeters long, 4 centimeters wide, and a depth of 3.8 centimeters. The coloring of the device was a combination of black and some red: two-thirds of the way up was a thin red line that went around the side of the device. The top was another layer of red that looked like it slightly protruded out from the device, implying that it could open up in some fashion; this top portion was cut (oddly) a third of the way through, further suggesting it opened upwards and then outwards like a scroll does. There were seven buttons on top of the device, two rows of 3 and a single row of 1 – the single row of 1 being triangular in shape and was the top-most row. The other two rows were rectangular buttons and these two rows were separated by the line that split the top of the device, leaving a single row alone, and the other with the single row of 1 button. (3) It was held to his wrist by a metal strap, thick enough to be more appropriately called a clamp as it was about two centimeters thick, and was locked in place.

Answering the unasked question, Saffron spoke, "While not technically correct, this is a highly advanced Scroll. A combination of a variety of stolen and illegal designs and components, all of its data and programming are stored on the device itself.(4) The top can open up for the familiar expandable Scroll screen, with 6 more buttons for you to mess around with – rather than just one button on most Scrolls. Considering I store all my files onto a backup here (encrypted of course) and it contains programs for hacking technology, I would call this the most valuable possession I have."

Looking at the device, Saffron spoke, "Open." With a click, the top portion popped up, allowing Saffron to open it up like a Scroll. Saffron began browsing through files, "I'm afraid you aren't going to like what I am about to show you, truly."

Still a little off-put by Saffron's nonchalant behavior, Ruby decided to observe cautiously. She doubted he was trying to activate some trap or mechanism all the way out in the middle of the woods.

"You are pretty smart." Saffron commented, having found what he was looking for, "You may have missed the fact that your mother's journal was encrypted, but if you weren't looking for it you would have missed it. Regardless, it would seem that even you don't think out everything and can be temporarily forgettable."

Ruby considered this, and wondered what he meant, but he was quick to answer for her.

"Have you ever considered that I lied about with what I 'poisoned' your teammates? Or your father for that matter?"

Ruby paled slightly, having not considered such a thing, "What are you –"

Saffron interrupted, "Have you ever considered that the reason I was so confident in my ability to poison your father, despite him being a fully trained Huntsmen, was because I had already done it?"

Ruby's pupils shrunk as she had a sudden realization, 'Dad texts me every morning. Except he hadn't this morning. I assumed Saffron merely blocked my communications.'

Saffron turned the Scroll screen so Ruby could view its contents… And she simultaneously paled and greened.

It was set in a room Ruby knew all too well, the kitchen room and table of her home in Patch, however, it was vandalized in a way she could never have imagined.

Many of the objects and personal possession that littered her home in the background were thrown about the house, broken and thrown about as if a grenade had gone off; the ran-sacker, uncaring of the home that was desolated or the sentiment in their placement.

Blood was splattered all over like a child with paint had a free for all. And in the center of it all was her father. A bowl of Pumpkin Pete's cereal and milk on the table, mixed with vomit and bile and other nauseating substances. Poison. Her father was tied to a kitchen chair by his wrists and arms and chest and legs. He was littered in cuts of various lengths and depths, some going deep enough to reveal bones and organs. His arms were splayed open like sliced ham. A single bullet hole right through the weak point in the human skull. He… he was…

'T-tortured, interrogated, and killed.' Ruby realized with horror, and felt bile rising through her throat.

Unfazed by the sight, Saffron commented, "It would have been a waste of his life and my time, of course, if I didn't interrogate him for all he knew before killing him. Instead of realizing his position, he resisted and I had to resort to harsher methods to get what I wanted. Stubbornness isn't always a valuable trait."

Ruby swallowed, holding back the bile, and her bangs shadowed over her eyes.

In spite of this, Saffron continued nonchalantly, "I'll admit, he was a tough bastard. He didn't even crack all the way despite-" Saffron paused as Ruby began to slowly move.

Positioning Crescent Rose into a more hand-held position, Ruby activated the mechanisms, shifting the weapon into its awe and fear inspiring scythe form. Shifting into a crouched position low to the ground, Ruby cocked the weapon as she held the scythe behind her.

Saffron's lip twitched upwards slightly and he chuckled humorlessly, "Heh, something wrong, Red? What's with the sudden anger?" Saffron's grin turned cruel. "Didn't you hate your father for being so overprotective and for never understanding you? You should be happy, no?"

Ruby mumbled, but the words were even illegible even to herself.

"Huh?" Saffron questioned mockingly, "Speak up, I can't hear you."

"I-"Ruby paused then looked straight at Saffron, her Silver eyes were like pools of fire and rage and hate. How dare this… this thing take away her father!? She refused to accept the creature before her as anything more than a monster! A demon in human skin! One minute he talks of morality and the next he reveals this. How dare he!

Ruby shivered in place in a rage she had never before experienced and she growled, "I'll… I'll kill you!"

And with a blast of her weapon, and application of her semblance, she launched herself at the target before her. It dodged, taking to the skies to avoid the strike, its legs too tired and damaged to do anything other than stand.

But distance was not a worry; her semblance could launch her into the air as well. And although she could only go upwards a short distance and only go in straight lines, it was enough considering it's altitude. So she attacked as it continued to dodge around the field, sometimes zipping between trees in the tree-line to throw her off. But she was too stubborn, not every bothering to land on the trees properly as she ran into them harshly and zipped off like nothing happened. Who cared if she ran into a tree? She was going to catch that bastard!

During one of its fly-bys it had grabbed it's weapon, having transitioned them back into a sniper rifle, and was firing at her to keep her from making strikes that would normally hit.

Ruby ignored the rounds, nothing would stand in her way between her and her enemy.

It blocked her mid-air strike with his – IT'S - weapon, resulting in it being split in two.

It decided to shift tactics, and flew straight up to get out of her jumping range. Undeterred, Ruby shifted her weapon into its gun mode and fired after him, preventing it from fleeing if it wanted too.

It seemed to have expected this, and didn't stay in one location in the sky for long. It retrieved shuriken from its hip pouches and used them as ranged attacks, forcing Ruby to move through the clearing rapidly as well to avoid the spinning metal stars of death.

Both of their volleys were essentially ineffective, a few shots grazing each other, but not doing any serious damage.

Having used the volley as a distraction, it had flown back down into the tree-line and reemerged with a few more pouches of what was probably more shuriken. He landed on the ground.

Being at opposite ends of the field, it apparently felt safe trying to speak, "Just look at those eyes. So dark and cold, yet burning and furious."

Ruby was sick of hearing it speak. It's words full of lies and contradictions and they only served to further her fury. Knowing on a base level he wouldn't be able to dodge at her speeds, she extended her weapon into its blade-mode. Shifting it into its spear-like mode, she charged with a small burst of her semblance, knowing it was to be over.

Mid-way through her charge it commented with a rueful smile, "What… would your mother think of you now? I wonder if she'd be proud…"

Reality froze for but an instant as the harmless question pierced her defenses, and Ruby's blood instantly froze.

Ruby stopped running, but her momentum was too great and she kept sliding against her wishes.

Unexpectedly, she came to a sudden stop, feeling an impact from the end of her weapon. A sound a thunder rocked the clearing at that instant, and Ruby question if that sudden wet feeling she noticed on the front of her body and on her face was rain that she had failed to notice in her rage – the rain having come from that storm finally rolling in.

Slightly startled and confused, she turned to see what had stopped her slide… to the sight of Crescent Rose piercing completely through Saffron's torso.

No… no this couldn't be right. She leaned a little to the right to see around him, trying to disprove what she was seeing before her, only to be denied as the other end of Crescent Rose's blade was indeed present on the other side –covered in blood. Saffron's blood. Reaching up to her face, she wiped at the wet area and instead of clear water, she found a thick crimson liquid; blood, not hers, but his.

Her face blank, she looked up at Saffron's face, finding a grimace of pain and… acceptance?

Not quite ready to die that instant, Saffron shakily opened one of the pouches, revealing a syringe – much like the first one Ruby found that morning. He harshly injected it into himself, and gasped –choking, barely able to breath.

He grinned shakily, "A-adrenaline shot. Turns out you were never in *cough* any harm, R-red. Y-your sister's fine too, never did anything to her." He coughed blood. He wheezed, the drugs being the only thing keeping his brain working and body alive. He shakily unlocked his wrist Scroll and placed it on Ruby's wrist – the one still holding Crescent Rose in place. He kept the key that locked it in place.

"L-listen." Saffron gasped, Ruby's face still blank in denial, "In this world… wherever there is light, there will also be… shadows *cough*. Wherever there are winners… there will also be losers *wheeze*. Wherever there are heroes… villains will rise up to challenge them… Everything is in a state of eternal conflict, *cough, cough* as power incites c-conflict. The selfish desire for peace breeds war… and hate is bred to protect love. And they… know this." (5)

Saffron violently coughed, causing Crescent Rose to further aggravate his wounds – Ruby noticed the harder resistance was his bones.

"They… are coming. And even I d-don't know where… they come from… or who they are." Saffron continued to laboriously wheeze his final words. "F-find a path… one that's your own… and s-stick to it… before they arrive."

Ruby took on in a mixture of growing sadness and horror and the realization of what was happening, before her, due to her own actions and decisions. She began to cry, silently.

Saffron smiled in melancholic contentment. "S-see ya later, Red."

Saffron leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. As his world slowly faded to black, he welcomed death with open arms. 'Sorry, doll… Jade, I feel like you won't like the plan all that much… But I… always win in the end…'

Saffron grinned, his eyes closed, as his face faced the sky, '…Checkmate.'

And he died. His corpse falling slack into Crescent Rose.

Tears continued to fall silently down Ruby's cheeks, the truth of what was before her slowly sinking in. Undeniable. She'd killed. It didn't matter he tried to kill her. It didn't matter what he had done. She took his last breath forcibly and watched as the life fade from his eyes.

It wasn't hers to take.

With a hiccup, she collapsed to her knees, Crescent Rose and Saffron's body along with – clunking to the ground with a meaty thud.

Thunder roared again, and a drop of rain fell. Followed by another. And another. And another. And another… As the field, the forest, and Ruby's world were covered in rain and the storm.

'And TV makes that look so easy…'

She cried out and laughed bitterly as the rain hid her tears.


End of Arc 2