A/N: Thanks to all readers, reviewers and fav/follows!

So much is going down this chapter- I am partially worried that it may be too fast but I like to have a lot going on or I think stories can get boring.

RatedRSuperStar87- I swear you are almost always right when guessing about the previews/next chapters so a big thank you for that because it is encouraging and it also makes me want to step up my writing game to put at least some small plot twists in this before its finished.

Anyway, enjoy!

1 second.

Several things happened at once.

The bomb exploded, giving a colossal roar that left destruction and curling flames in its wake. Disrupted concrete, chunks of dislodged earth and gravestones were unceremoniously blasted into the air and rained down from the smoke filled sky.

Weiss cast the strongest glyph she knew how to as the blast slammed into it with greater force than she could have ever anticipated.

She closed her eyes.

She felt a weight against her waist as she was thrown backwards, landing heavily on something soft and then bouncing to the side. The glyph had protected her from the worst, no shrapnel had managed to lodge itself into her flesh, however she felt a stubborn ache all over and her ears were ringing in a deafening din.

She could hear nothing but ringing.

Weiss cracked open stinging eyes and idly wondered when she had started crying as she took in the dark sky.

She was surrounded by blackened debris and the burning remains of anything remotely flammable, lying in a minute patch of still green grass that she had protected from the bomb.

The dust and smoke forced a hacking cough to violently escape her lungs as she rolled onto her side, gasping at a pain in her right arm. The presumably broken limb continued to throb as she focused her aura into dulling the pain. She laid there on the damp ground, her ears continuing their mutiny and refusing to work, wondering if her aura would be able to numb the pain in her heart.

The area that had been destroyed was impossibly large and Weiss was no fool, she knew that Ruby couldn't have escaped the blast radius. Ruby had gotten the bomb far enough away that Weiss was spared, with the aid of her glyph, but being fast wasn't enough to evade that.

Her eyes began blurring.

Everyone in her life was taken from her. The woman who had threatened her was right, she was born as a Schnee, and she was born with a target painted on her back, so why had she let herself care? Why had she sought out the love of her aunt? Why had she let Ruby sneak through the cracks in her built up defences and make a mark on her hidden heart? She shouldn't have given the White Fang this ammunition to fire at her.

However, as she pawed at the flow of salty wetness from her tear ducts she couldn't find it in herself to regret loving Ruby. It had been foolish to believe she could be happy but she would never regret the pure joy she had felt around the first genuine friends she had ever made in her life.

The warmth that had encompassed her entire being when Ruby's lips met hers was engraved on her heart and fixed in her mind.

Her memories were precious treasures that span through her head; Ruby grinning widely in triumph as she guided them around her bedroom to slow music, Ruby watching expectantly as Weiss sipped the coffee she had attentively made her and finally the dazed smile that Ruby wore as she pulled her in for a searing kiss, the moon a backdrop to their bliss.

And now to join those moments of delight the feeling of being torn apart when Ruby ran from her, carrying the bomb that had been made to kill her, in order to prevent it from fulfilling its purpose. She had given her a parting smile, a gift that Weiss hadn't wanted but would cling to nonetheless. Ruby had then raised three of her fingers to convey the message that Weiss was to use the defensive glyph they had been practising the past few days and Weiss had realised in that moment what Ruby had planned for her.

The frustratingly heroic, frustratingly good, frustratingly brave girl had saved her life at the cost of her own without a second thought.

"Ruby…" It was a tortured murmur from cracked lips and Weiss almost expected a bright reply to sound from somewhere and for her to be pulled into a loving, tight hug that would lift her off her feet and take her breath away.

Along with the slightly quieter ringing Weiss could now hear sirens and the panicked screeches of nearby survivors but not the voice that she so desperately craved to hear.

There was a small cough from behind her and Weiss wondered who could have found her so soon.

She ignored the sharp pain that shot up her arm when she moved as she lifted herself to her knees and turned around.

She was certain that her heart skipped a beat and stuttered dangerously when the red-cloaked form not a metre behind her coughed again, her chest lifting off the ground with the action.

"Ruby! Ruby! Ruby." Weiss could have said that name a thousand times if it meant that what she was seeing wasn't a cruel illusion. Her arm screamed in pain as she crawled over to the other girl and clutched the frayed material of that hooded cape between her shaking fingertips.

It wasn't possible.

How was she here?

"Ruby!" Weiss tried again to get a reaction as she placed both hands on either side of Ruby's face.

A beat.

Silver eyes shot open at her touch and were glazed over until they focused on her own glistening eyes and Weiss saw recognition spark inside them.

"Weiss! You're okay." Ruby closed her eyes again and that was when Weiss felt a moist, sticky substance coating her fingers and she immediately snapped her gaze to the hair that was plastered to Ruby's skull, redder than it should have been.

"Ruby! Open your eyes!" Weiss yelled as the panic began stirring up her gut painfully.

"But my head hurts and I'm tired."

"No! You're not leaving me now. I can't, I won't let you. Open your eyes and tell me how you are here!"

"Ugh. I…" Every word seemed to be a strain on Ruby who grimaced as she fluttered her eyes half open. "I got the bomb… as far away as I c-could then ran back to you. I was… just behind you… when it exploded. I t-t-told you to… use the glyph, I knew you c-could do it."

"You cushioned my fall." It was a whispered realisation that dragged another blade across her already beaten, bloody heart. She remembered the strange weight at her waist just before she was thrown backwards, it had been Ruby's protection as they had clattered to the ground and fell apart from each other. "Ruby, keep your eyes open. We made a promise to each other remember? You broke it! You risked your life!"

"S-sorry Weiss."

"Don't apologise! You always apologise! Just survive okay? Keep your eyes open and I'll forgive you, I'll forgive yo-" Weiss' voice trembled and broke as a fresh wave of tears came forth with a deep sob that accompanied her jerking shoulders.

"Okay." With a set jaw Ruby reached up and clutched onto Weiss' left hand with her right. Her blood was warm and slick between their linked fingers and she squeezed tightly as she forced her eyes wide and sucked in shallow, ragged breaths. Weiss heard nearing sirens and dared to hope that they would be okay as her thumb stroked one of the rosy cheeks that she adored so much.

"Help is on its way. Have you used your aura?"

"I d-did but a rock came from nowhere and… hit me after the b-bomb exploded."

"Shhhh. I just needed a yes or no you dunce. Where else does it hurt? Keep this short."

"J-just my head and here." Ruby grunted with the effort of moving her free hand and pointing to her chest. Weiss creased her forehead.

"Your ribs possibly. Just carry on breathing. Slowly. Can you do that for me?"

"Y-yes." But even as she said it Ruby's eyelids began closing.

"Ruby! Don't you dare leave me!" Weiss had barely finished her plea before they were surrounded by medical personnel.

"Ozpin has sent us. We have the best medical equipment in Remnant, let us help her."

"Okay." Weiss agreed to relax her grip on Ruby as she was gently lifted into a stretcher and taken into the back of an ambulance, medical jargon being shouted between the paramedics that Weiss had no hope of understanding.

"Do you have any injuries Miss Schnee?" A young medic with chocolate brown eyes approached her.

"Yes. My arm." Weiss grimaced as she removed her black overcoat and presented him with her stinging limb.

"We've been given dust powered aura boosting shots for the occasion, if you would allow me to use one you may be able to heal yourself with your aura." He gestured to a kit in his hands that contained the injection.

"Is it safe?"

"They have only recently been approved but they have not yet been used in hospitals. Ozpin has had scientists working on them for decades, the positive results have been astounding and with more dust they could become the greatest revolution in healthcare in this past century. I've seen them work miracles Miss." Weiss almost slapped herself when she realised just what Ozpin could have done to help her make the Schnee Company a legal business if she hadn't been so proud and power-hungry.

"Go ahead." Weiss allowed as she grimaced at the pain shooting up her arm in protest to her movements. He nodded and prepared the shot before injecting it into her upper arm. She felt an immediate surge in her aura's capabilities and she focused it onto her broken bone, feeling the impossible become, for the second time that day, possible. It still ached but she was no longer handicapped and she thanked him greatly before asking about Ruby.

"Can I see her? Have they used the same treatment on her?"

"They will have used all of the best technology available but they will come to you when you can see her."

"Make sure they do." Weiss demanded as she tapped her foot impatiently and heard more sirens approaching. There were already several ambulances around the exploded graveyard giving emergency care to any caught in the immediate area when the bomb detonated. She took that moment to begin a hurried message explaining the situation to Jaune, who was leading the other group.

"Miss Schnee?" Weiss span around to take in a thickset man with short, black hair that was flecked with specks of grey.

"Yes?"

"Your friend would like to see you." He answered, gesturing for her to follow him with a meaty hand.

"She's okay?"

"Of course." His voice had a low, raspy quality to it that put Weiss on edge but she brushed that thought aside when she remembered how badly Ruby had been injured. She was led to an ambulance and she waited as he pulled on the door. He was taking far too much time for Weiss' liking as she moved closer, almost standing on the step that led up and into the vehicle. The door swung wide and bright light assaulted her eyes causing her to flinch and blink repeatedly.

"Wha-?" Her appeal was cut short by a heavy blow to the back of her head and Weiss felt herself be guided into the ambulance by a shove to the small of her back before her world faded into black.

The power surging through her wiry body was immense, electrifying, and Ruby felt her aura flare up until she focused it into the areas it was needed most. She had gone from the brink of death to never feeling more alive and she smiled wide at the saints with the magic that had returned her to an almost perfect state.

"How are you feeling Ruby?"

"Amazing!" Ruby now understood how people were addicted to the other dust developed drugs that were available from dodgy, dark hat wearing dealers in the many seedy alleyways in Vale. "Can I see Weiss now?"

"You've reacted very well but we just need to check over your vitals again first. It seems the cut was not as deep as we first feared but head injuries are always a major concern. "

"Okay." She attempted patience but couldn't help kicking her legs around a little. She didn't want to be rude but she knew that she was fine now and she really needed to make sure Weiss was okay.

"Alright you can get up now but tell us if you have any problems at all."

"Sure!" Ruby sat up and peeked behind a couple of medics through the door of the ambulance.

She immediately spotted a white offset ponytail and the hair's owner being guided towards another ambulance. Ruby furrowed her eyebrows, she was sure that Weiss hadn't been gravely injured- why was she going to an ambulance? That was when the man behind her produced an odd short-staffed trident from his pocket and used the blunt end to smack into the back of Weiss' unknowing skull and Ruby bolted for the door.

Weiss was pushed into the ambulance with the man following suit as Ruby's foot caught on something and sent her flying onto the singed grass littered with broken headstones.

The ambulance was leaving.

She pushed herself up and zipped towards the escaping vehicle, reaching out her arm towards the metal handle of the door.

Her fingers brushed against something cool.

A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead.

The ambulance picked up its pace as the path began clearing. With one last wild effort she pushed all her strength into her legs as she sprung forwards and grabbed the handle, fixing her feet onto the small step below the door. The wind rushed through her blood stained locks as she grimaced and held tight onto the back of the vehicle.

She began to formulate a plan.

"T-there's been an explosion! We're having to change the original plan." Jaune announced as he stood from his seat in the back of the van. Two rows of concerned and shocked faces looked to him from the benches they were perched on to his left and right.

"Explosion?! Is Ruby okay?" Yang asked, also leaping up to stand in the aisle between the two rows of seats and face Jaune head on.

"Weiss messaged me saying they were both getting medical treatment but were okay. They sent someone to the funeral to kidnap Weiss but Ruby managed to snipe them before any damage could be done. There was a bomb which has destroyed the graveyard but they managed to protect themselves with a glyph." The news came out in a jumbled mess but they managed to decipher what Jaune had been told.

"They attacked earlier than we anticipated." Pyrrha added with a contemplative look crossing her features.

"Are we there yet?" Nora asked, legs tapping with the continual energy that buzzed through her tiny but robust body.

"No, no ye-" Jaune was cut off by the sudden braking of the van as he was thrown against the partition between their seating and the driver's compartment. "Ugh… I take that back, we are here."

"Yay! Let's go Ren!" Taking him by the hand Nora dragged him out of the back of the van and into the scorched graveyard.

Yang felt cool hands cup her own wringing ones and she raised her eyes to capture golden irises that shone with concern.

"She'll be okay, let's go find her together." Blake assured her as Yang let out the breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding and nodded.

The previously lush, grassy graveyard was in utter devastation.

The headstones that had once stood resolute like a military formation were broken and shattered, lying haphazardly on the blackened ground- a tribute to chaos. Even the one ever present tree that had resided there for decades had been ripped from its perch, roots facing the sky like a spider on its back with legs kicking in indignation as the wind shook the recently exposed tendrils.

Only one thing remained in tact and it brought a smirk to Yang's lips at the thought that the Schnee mausoleum could weather the tornado that the White Fang had wrought upon it.

White marble in the far corner of the desolate graveyard stood proud, looking upon the destruction, and Yang could almost imagine its haughty gaze of superiority being cast upon the weaker headstones that had not managed to endure. It was the same look Weiss got whenever she was challenged and replied with a fierceness that never failed to impress Yang, it wasn't a mere competitiveness it was an ingrained warrior mindset. It was what made their tenuous and sometimes dangerous friendship function; a mutual respect for determination. It was the reason Yang didn't hesitate to trust Weiss to fight by Ruby's side. The Ice Queen wouldn't go down easily and neither would Yang's precious sister, they were a pairing to be afraid of- stronger than a force of nature- and the White Fang had wronged them. Yang was immeasurably proud to be by their sides, now she just had to find them.

"Where's Ruby?" Yang immediately grabbed the arm of the nearest medic and posed her question.

"Ruby?"

"Yeah, she's a bit shorter than me, has dark hair and wears a red cape."

"Oh she was treated and left the ambulance to find Miss Schnee not long ago."

"Huh?" Yang yet again took in her surroundings and saw no relieving flash of red neither did she hear the commanding tone of Weiss which was rather unusual.

"Yang." Blake's voice was low, worrying, and she was staring at her phone in deep thought.

"What is it? Blake?"

"Apparently Ruby just activated her emergency tracker and she's travelling at a high speed towards the other side of Vale, towards the docks." The last word had lilac eyes widening and Yang flinched at the immediate worries filling her already heavily occupied mind.

"How?!

"She must be on some kind of vehicle. It has to be him." Blake gave Yang a look that made the blonde swallow painfully, her throat was suddenly unbearably dry.

"Chauncy. If he does anything to my sister I swear I-"

"We don't have time for this, let's follow her." Yang nodded and activated the tracker Ozpin had given each of them, he would be able to see their pursuit of Ruby this way.

She forced the muscles in her legs to make her sprint, faster than she ever had, and jump into the driving seat of a nearby, empty ambulance. The passenger door was slammed closed as Yang smashed her foot into the accelerator and Blake began frantically tapping up a message to the others from her position beside the blonde driver.

Her stomach bubbled nervously as the hijacked ambulance rolled to an exact halt.

It was now or never.

She filled her lungs with the salty, fish-scented air and heard the squawking of several gulls who were excitedly watching her carefully measured steps across the concrete and to the driver's side door, as if they knew what was about to unfold.

The driver flung the door open but before they could take a step the blunt side of Crescent Rose connected with their head and they crumpled to the floor, gravity taking over their body. Ruby peeked into the door and realised that for the only time that day something had finally gone her way. The driver had been alone. Now she had to deal with the man keeping Weiss captive in the back.

She zipped back around the van and was met by two, small, black eyes and if it wasn't for the deadly situation she would have laughed- they reminded her of two black olives stuck either side of his pointed nose. Absurd analogies aside, he seemed unfazed by her sudden appearance and as she lifted her scythe he even cracked a sharp-toothed smile that seemed to promise violence as surely as the sun would set that evening.

"Where is she?" She demanded, hoping that her squeaking sounded more threatening than it had to her ears.

"To whom are you referring dear?" His voice was the rumble of distant thunder and it sent a shiver down Ruby's spine.

"W-Weiss! Why have you taken her?"

"Oh Miss Schnee! She's one of the many humans who will be sacrificed for our cause."

"She's innocent!" He laughed heartily at that and the few rays of light that managed to escape the dense cloud cover caught on pointed canines as Ruby continued. "You can't just kill people; it makes you as bad as the humans who mistreat you."

"So you believe it's wrong to 'just kill people' then?" His grin disappeared as he tilted his head to listen to her unsettlingly earnestly.

"Of course, no one has the right to decide who lives and who doesn't."

"It seems every human is a hypocrite. A good friend of mine passed away recently, I wonder if you knew him- he was called Dexter Lowell." The pang of guilt in Ruby's stomach almost made her clutch her middle.

He continued as if they were merely having a friendly catch up. "He was my student really; I taught him for ten years and gave him purpose in his pitiful life. I know it sounds cliché but he was a street dweller when I found him, he was living in an alleyway and I can still remember the stench of garbage that surrounded his 'home' to this day. He was just sitting against the wall, whisky in one hand and a knife in the other, and I reached out to help him up. His hand was so frail, like a collection of twigs in my fist, and I was worried that I'd snap one of his fingers just pulling him up." He paused to gage the horror on Ruby's face, to drink it up as if it was sweet tasting nectar. "His parents abandoned him as a child due to their addiction to dust based drugs, it was around the time that the Schnee Company began illegally producing and distributing them that they could no longer afford to keep a child- much less a worthless member of society. What human would hire a scrawny faunus with drug addicted parents? The Schnee's tore away any chance of a liveable existence from Dexter and for countless more of my brothers and sisters. I think it's time they re-paid their debt to us."

"But Weiss had no say in any of that! She's been in charge of the company merely days and she's already made steps to pay her faunus employees fairly."

"Yes, you'd know all about her succeeding her father wouldn't you?" His black eyes glinted but Ruby couldn't fathom the implications of his rhetoric.

"What do you mean?" Her wariness was a precaution; he seemed to be enjoying himself.

"I know more about you than you think Ruby Rose; such as your dream to make Vale a better place, your desire for equality for all citizens and your peculiar relationship with young Miss Schnee."

"I believe faunus and humans are equal and that none of us should live in fear." The red-cloaked warrior wondered why he was so intent on discussing politics with her of all people.

"Admirable, very admirable, but the harsh world we live in corrupts the most pure of hearts and the most well-meaning intentions can have collateral damage. I would know."

"I'm n-not proud of what happened to Dexter but he'd killed so many people and he wasn't going to stop."

"His hands were rather dirtied weren't they? But by your logic I would be doing the world a favour to kill you then wouldn't I?" He flashed his teeth at her again and she took a subconscious step back.

"I…"

"Oh I know Miss Rose, I know what you did. You may have gotten one of my own to physically kill Dexter but the man who stood in the way of your ambitions was slain by your own hand."

"What d-"

"For a better Vale, for equality and for Weiss Schnee to be in charge one man had to die. I suppose I should thank you, he had been on my hit list for a rather long time. Although, it wasn't the perfect crime, if Ozpin had been honest with you he would have revealed that they found a bolt at the crime scene which could have only come from your… delightful contraption." He cast his shadowy gaze over the shaking scythe in Ruby's wobbly hands. "I suppose he thought that the death of Mr Schnee was a necessary evil in his plans for control over our fair city so he let a murderer roam free, I don't know why I expected anything else from a human and politician." He sneered at her and laughed when she raised her weapon. "It was nice to meet the girl who made history, goodbye Ruby Rose."

She was in absolute shock, frozen.

She sensed rather than heard the approach of multiple enemies before she flipped backwards as the ground she had been standing on was punctured by multiple bullets. They came from the warehouses, from the roofs and from seemingly thin air as she was surrounded by White Fang members, intent on seeing if the colour of her blood matched that of her cloak.

She was too occupied to shout out or chase after the sliver of silver hair she saw over the crowd of masked, bloodthirsty faunus but she was sure she could hear the sobs of the woman she loved even over deafening gunshots.

The sounds of Weiss' cries echoed in her brain and fuelled her anger.

So this had been Chauncy's plan all along.

A/N: I feel a little bit bad for all the crap I seem to put Weiss through in this fic but then I remember that a bit of angst/drama is always fun to write.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think of this chapter, it may seem a bit fast but I felt like writing it that way and it isn't going to be easy for them to finish this mission (the overused cliche 'an emotional rollercoaster' may describe what is coming up).

Here's a couple of previews for next chapter:

1. "Oh how romantic, this will be exactly like our first date! It's just you, me and ten tonnes of blood-thirsty metal intent on ripping us limb from limb."

"That wasn't a date! I was trying to kill you!"

2. "Maybe that is real loyalty, to kill for you, to die for you."

So how is Weiss going to deal with being caught? Did Ruby assassinate Weiss' father? Will I ever end a chapter without a cliffhanger? Does a failed assassination attempt count as a date?