Author's Note: Short chapter today. Tax season is taking a good toll on me and my friend was in the hospital last night. I didn't get this done until 2am this morning. Zelindsay kindly pushed aside some school work to edit for me.

Six Month Ago - Ruby

Ruby realized her hands we empty. Why was it so important that they should not be empty? The last thing she remembered was being on the battlefield and tackling Emerald. Weiss was helping her when she saw the explosion, she had been holding onto to her as they got thrown to the ground again.

"Weiss." Ruby croaked, attempting to sit up and call out; her body hurt all over.

"Easy now," She heard her uncle's voice. "The ice queen is fine. You were all burned pretty badly though. Recovery is going to take a while."

Ruby laid back in the hospital bed trying to breath deeply. She tried to recollect what she had gone through. She was charging at Mercury with Blake when something knocked her over. The next thing she knew she was lunging at a faunus man trying to grab a terrified Blake. The sickening sound of one of her glass blades driving through flesh; it made her queasy.

"Unfortunately, I have bad news." Qrow continued. "I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but Taiyang requested that I be the one to do it."

Her memory was racing back. Fighting the faunus man and stomping on him when he was knocked over. Ruby despised how brutal this war had made her.

Ruby felt her heart drop as she heard her uncle choke back sobs.

"What? What is it?" she inquired nervously.

She came back to the scene where she leapt across the battlefield and tackled the punk with green hair. A shot went off, the girl was missing her hand now. Weiss was running over to help her up and the explosion that followed. Yang's voice shouting, full of anger. She looked over towards her sister but all she saw was flame.

"Yang didn't make it."

Ruby's world shattered. She couldn't breath. This had to be a dream, her uncle had to be wrong, her sister promised she would always be there for her.

No, she was wide awake. Wide awake and trapped in a nightmare for the rest of her life.

Ruby was discharged from the hospital after a week. During her time there she had many visitors, but cared most when Jaune had come to talk to her. He was the last one to see her sister alive. He explained what had happened, how Cinder created the explosion that had incapacitated everyone and launched another attack at Yang that hit her and the woman next to her. How Yang had ordered Jaune to save Pyrrha, and how she sacrificed herself by tackling Cinder and taking a blow that was meant to kill Pyrrha and Jaune. The blazing maelstrom that Yang had created to ensure the defeat of Cinder. Jaune felt guilty, he had left before the conflict had been finished, he was only concerned with saving Pyrrha. Ruby wanted to be angry with him but she was still numb. She couldn't feel any emotions; no anger or sadness, no guilt or grief.

Ruby solemnly dragged herself out to the courtyard to see where the battle had taken place. She saw the monument in the middle, her sister's name was now engraved in big letters in the middle. Writing ran down the sides detailing the lives that were lost and there was an inscription at the base with some worthless quote about sacrifice for the greater good. Yang's funeral had too much fanfare, too many people were there; a hero's death. She was dead now, it didn't matter what accords were granted to her, it wouldn't change anything. Ruby sighed helplessly. There had been nothing left of her sister for the funeral, just the scorched earth. Like Yang, they had never found the body of Cinder either, the flames had devoured her as well and it came as small solace for Ruby.

Ruby recounted the fate of the other combatants that fought that day, there was more than enough pain to go around as numerous soldiers on both sides had died. Sun had been pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, but Sage and Scarlet had managed to recover from their wounds. They, along with Neptune, were keeping Blake company while she dealt with her loss. Mercury had also made it to the hospital, but he had died shortly afterwards due to the unusual puncture wound in his chest. Emerald had died before getting to the hospital; Weiss' attack had depleted her aura, and she took the full brunt of Cinder's explosion. The body of Adam and Torchwick's henchwoman were never recovered either. Adam had likely escaped, but it sounded like Torchwick's accomplice got caught in the same secondary explosion as Yang. Jaune, Nora, Penny, and Ren managed to survive the battle with minimal injuries, though Pyrrha had been pronounced dead on arrival when they first examined her at the hospital, but upon closer examination the doctors were able to resuscitate Pyrrha and placed her in a medically induced coma; they were certain she would make a recovery.

This isn't fair, Ruby thought to herself as her emotions returned to her in a torrential flood, why do they get Pyrrha back but I don't get my sister back?

"How is this fair?" Ruby shouted at the monument, dropping down to her knees in front of it. "You promised to be that you would always be there for me!"

"Ruby!" She heard Weiss' voice behind her and footsteps quickly approaching.

"You swore to me that you would stay with me, then you left me all alone in this horrible world!" As she kept screaming at the statue, she felt hands on her shoulders. She angrily pushed her teammates hands off of her. The anger was overwhelming and unbearable. "I can't take this! I can't do this! You lied to me!"

Ruby slammed her hands down on the ground in front of her, ignoring the waves of pain that traveled up her arms as she cried for the first time since she learned about her sister's fate.

She felt her partner's hands again on her back, the warmth of her body next to her.

"I took her for granted Weiss. I always assumed she would be right there for me." Ruby struggled through her tears, she had no strength left in her voice. "Now she is gone. Every bit of joy in my life is gone now, everything is so empty."

"I am so sorry Ruby." Weiss responded.

Ruby looked up at the statue again, at the name of sister displayed so honorably. Ruby stood up out of Weiss' grip and created a blade from one her gauntlets. Being careful to detach the blade so it didn't break or cut her, Ruby walked up and started scratching the area right under the hero's name. When she had completed her task, she took a step back.

"It's better now." the brunette said to her friend.

The statue now read 'Yang Xiao Long - The brightest light we have ever known.'

Amber will be back again, I hope you like the direction I take her in!

Have a great weekend and see you all on Tuesday for Chapter 13: The White Beast Appears