What can I say that has not already been said? You guys are the greatest, and your support has been incalculable. As we close this off, I wish I had something profound to say or assurances to give. But no- just a few notes:

Try to read between the lines in this one. Some things should be pretty clear, and others I leave up to your interpretation. What happened to Blake is one of the former.

The reason I am posting this in the middle of the week is because I will be completely unavailable this weekend, and just didn't want to abandon you guys after dropping this. Plus, it's close enough that I probably have enough time to flee into the desert if I ruffle enough feathers.

Since I haven't said it in a while, I don't own Naruto, RWBY, any songs by Gogol Bordello or Days & Daze* (even if I unabashedly stole a lot of lines from Eugene Hurtz.)

*Only in my dreams...

Only a few others were awake when he returned, and for that she was grateful. Even then, they were occupied gathering those that weren't or those too weak to do anything on their own. She was one of the latter, and so did the best to stay out of their way. Tucked away between pages.

With several possible fractures to her spine, Yang lay strapped to a stretcher and was still mercifully unconscious. Although serious, her injuries did not put her in any immediate danger and so she was moved off to a quiet corner of the wreckage.

By her side she stayed, while the world moved on around them. Looking only at her sister's busted and mangled hand intertwined with her own, and not the emergency response team running helter-skelter behind the scenes. They were beyond her notice, beyond her capabilities right then to think of the others who weren't quite as lucky as her and her sister. Ones that would need urgent treatment before the wound caused by the fractured rib flooded their lungs with blood, or the trauma from having their head treated like a racquetball against the bulkhead made it so they would never wake up again.

No, she couldn't think about them, as much as she'd like to it simply wasn't possible. It was hard enough to remind herself that this was a far better outcome then they ever could have hoped for. Cinder was dead, the Fall Maiden returned, the White Fang crippled, the Grimm around Vale scattered. And as long as she didn't look up from her immobilized sibling to see otherwise, all of her friends were still alive.

She noticed when he sat down next to her but made no comment on it. There was nothing left to say, and for that she was grateful.

Both were weary beyond measure. Him having stumbled in looking more sloshed than she'd ever seen Qrow, practically dead on his feet and with hardly a shred of clothing to his name that was not caked in all kinds of vileness or outright destroyed. She was sure she wasn't much different, and so didn't mind when he once again leaned heavily on her.

None of that mattered. All three of them together, drifting off into peaceful slumber, it didn't even matter that they might never wake up again. For that one time in too short a life, everything was as it should be.

And for that, she was grateful.

Nothing would ever be the same again. Everybody knew this, even before they received notice that all classes would be canceled for the foreseeable future. Perhaps they knew it from the very first day, the moment they set foot on Beacon's once immaculate promenade and looked up to that fairytale sight which even now seemed surreal in the fact that it continued to stand after all that had been thrown at it.

It wasn't the storybook ending anyone could have imagined, but no one was complaining.

There were those that could, but declined to. With all that was heaped on her shoulders, the new headmistress surely had reason. But Glynda was reserved as she returned with their missing teammate, tucked under her wing like a cracked egg.

Blake didn't say anything at all as she was passed into the arms of her friends, dressed in nothing but a ragged bed-sheet. Nor did she speak for days afterwards, whatever had happened that night affecting her profoundly.

The others could relate.

Whereas the now public Cat-Faunus declined to talk about her epiphany, everyone else could not shut up about it. Done with apologies- listening to them and issuing them, neither Naruto nor his professed 'tag-along' made any secret as to whom they were and where they came from. It was simply a reality that the denizens of that world were going to have to live with.

And they did.

Whether they were simply going with the flow, or if his existence was a profound illumination on a dark life, no one made it easy to figure out. Clear as day the change was there, hiding just underneath the surface of this new normality they molded for themselves from the scraps of everything they once knew.

But no one saw a reason to mention it. It simply was, and nothing else really mattered.

It was a lie, and one they happily carried on for a while.

"A dance?!"

Perhaps she should have been offended with the way everyone in the room looked at her with disbelief, as if the suggestion were the most incredible thing to happen to them in the past month. With a sigh, however, she realized that it probably was.

"With all that was going on, we never got a chance to attend the one before the tournament." Though she should have realized logic was all but useless with this group, Weiss nonetheless had a hard time forgoing it. "And with all non-essential travel service suspended, pretty much everyone's still living on campus…"

"Not to mention pretty much healed-up by now." Demonstrating, Yang stretched her back with hands raised high above her head and chest puffed out. The only pain experienced was that to her feminine pride as the only male in the room failed to notice.

"-So I mean, why not?" Ignoring the blonde's eccentricity had become easier as time went on, and Weiss had a feeling that it would be the same with the blond. "It'd be nice to actually have something to celebrate. For once."

Put this way, it was hard to refute.

"Well, It's just…"

"… we can't dance."

The harmony was like dissonance to the other two, tickling a instinctual nerve in their brains. No matter how hard they tried to convince themselves the synchronicity was cute, it their bodies' wouldn't see it as anything but unnerving.

"Is that all?" Indulgent throughout it all, Yang plugged herself in between the two and threw an arm over each shoulder. "Or are you just afraid of being outshined by your big-sis?"

Other biological buttons were the same, near identical consuls that she could manipulate with her eyes closed. She succeeded in sparking twin flames of competitiveness, yet sadly seemed to forget the new intensity was difficult to control.

"YOU'RE ON!" Both Ruby and Naruto exclaimed at once, earning another round of wincing.

In truth, it didn't really take that much to persuade them. Making fools of themselves was no longer a possibility nor consideration, and the only factor they had to consider was whether it would make people happy.

Speaking of…

"Blake?"

Easy for the casual observer to say that she hadn't changed with the way she kept to herself in the upper corner of the room. To those four, the Faunus' attitude had taken a noticeable downward turn. They no longer had to worry about her gallivanting off to settle old scores. Instead, it was the opposite problem as they could hardly get to her to leave the tent- now the room, as their dorm had been okayed for habitation once again. Sadly, the security of four walls did nothing in this newly vulnerable world.

At lack of an answer from the dark lump in the corner, Ruby extracted herself from her sister's grip and hopped on to the upper bunk where the pitiable creature flinched as soon as it felt the weight next to it.

"Blake? Do you think you'd like to come to a dance with us?"

"Dance?" Frostbitten lips cracked as they formed the one-word question. "A… celebration?"

While his immediate response had been the same as Ruby's, Naruto had trained himself to back off and let the others get used to him. He realized that despite how he felt, their relationship with him was going to be different and anything but natural.

Though now as he listened to those detached words wafting down from up above, he felt like it would have been better to offer his additional support, desired or not. If the arm tightening around his shoulders was any indication, Yang felt the same.

He actually didn't have to worry much about how his 'big sis' reacted to him. Nor Weiss, surprisingly, as she viewed him as an annoying, weird, childish but gifted warrior- just like Ruby. But ever since she was returned to them, Blake had become the unmentionable subject. He already had some inkling as to what the issue was, and was becoming frustrated with his inability to help.

"Yeah." A coiled snake or a broken wing, Ruby was not ignorant to the fact that she was dealing with something which required a delicate touch. Whichever, it was not something they could live with. "It would be nice to get everyone together, to celebrate what we still have."

"And what do I have left?" Hollow eyes peaked back from the gaps in disheveled hair and propped up on bags that were several shades darker than the mascara which hadn't been touched in weeks. "You finally got what you wanted. Me? With Beacon gone, so is my shot at redemption. Not a Huntress, not a White Fang, hardly a Faunus, a pathetic friend. I don't have an identity left. I don't even feel like a person. Ada-He took it from me, everything I had left. And I can't even claim revenge, as Glynda took that."

"You haven't lost anything." Not disappointed, but not relenting in expressing this truth. "Beacon is being rebuilt, it will rise again and so will you. You can still turn the White Fang back into something good. We'll help you. You still have us, your friends. We're still here."

But Blake wasn't, and eventually Ruby was forced to admit that painful fact when no response came after a long while. She dismounted the bunk and sat down on the nearest surface with a hangdog expression.

It was well within everyone's right to be angry with the melancholy cat for ruining the mood, but no one could quite do it. The elephant in the room was obvious, but no one had any idea how to deal with it, this situation far outside any of their experiences. It would have been beneficial to seek out Glynda as the resident shrink, had the woman not been cooped up in her new office for days on end.

So, not knowing anything else to do without causing further harm, they let it lay.

For now.

It was another reminder that this was reality, and it wasn't fair. And, that no ending was perfect.

Accepting this was arguably hardest on Naruto. He knew the girl as well as any of them, and yet also knew that his mere presence was causing her grief. It wasn't fair. Not for him, not for Ruby, not for Blake nor for any of them. If only they had limitless time to sort this out. But the clock on the wall refused to stop or even slow to allow for this time of contemplation, and every moment spent wallowing was one wasted.

Reminding him and reassuring him was the arm around his shoulders, squeezing gently in a show of mutual assurance. Yang looked tired as she stared down at him- they all did. It had been a hard few weeks helping to rebuild, both the school and the lives that were torn down. And clearly from this display, it would be many a week yet.

"So, we gonna do this or not?"

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered as she joined back in, glomming on and tackling her sister, freeing him from her grasp. "Ooh! I'm so excited! And nervous! And what about music? Decorations? Who can we get on such short notice?"

"I don't know, but don't make me sorry I suggested it." Weiss said, stress from the manic highs and lows of the evening already starting to cause a headache. "Can we think about it in the morning? I'm exhausted and can hardly think."

Enthusiasm aside, this suggestion was universally accepted.

"Soo… hate to bring this up..." Hearing the preamble, Weiss paused amid her evening rituals and shot a sidelong glare at Yang. She knew where this led and had pointedly avoided asking the same thing. Yang continued obliviously. "Where's he gonna sleep?"

How they could be so astute one second and so obtuse the next was a mystery. But there was no hiding that two-pair wide-eyed expression of ignorance.

"What do you mean?" Both looked at one another for answers before turning back to their elder sibling. "Isn't he sleeping with me?"

"That's why I didn't bring it up." Already checking out of the conversation with face-mask on and earplugs in, Weiss's mumble was missed beneath the rapid-fire sputtering of someone doing the damnest to keep the argument PG.

"You know what," Silencing herself with a broad gesture, Yang took a deep breath before she ran off again. "It doesn't matter. Do what you want."

"I don't understand," Speaking for the obvious discomfort, Naruto cocked his head at his 'sister's' strange behavior. "Did you want me to sleep with you?"

Taking a page from the heiress's book, Yang dove underneath her covers, clothes and all, and clamped the pillow down over her head. "Sorry! Can't hear you! I'm asleep!" Transparently fake snoring came soon after to drown out any follow-on questions, though it didn't completely manage to block the amused snickers from the pranksters.

"Turn out the lights already!"

They did, finally letting the room's energy dissipate into nothing.

If only every problem were so easy to solve.

"I know what you're thinking."

Because he did, he followed her around to the far side of the campus, where damage had been minimal and thus activity was as well. One of the few bastions of solitude left in the perpetual construction site, where someone would go if they wanted to be alone. Skirting around all the wreckage to come here was quite a trek for a girl who hadn't been out of the room in days, but it was important. As it was for him.

"I doubt that." She croaked, nonetheless attempting to hide something between her gaunt body and the single bench. "What could you possibly understand about the way us 'mortals' think?"

"I'm not a god, Blake." He approached slowly. Both for her peace of mind, as well as his. "I'm not normal, I admit. But then again, which of us are?" No matter how fast he had become, he couldn't leave a friend's life to chance. "We're all prone to mistakes. I guess you could say that I've made twice as many as average. But in all honesty, that number's probably more."

"Don't come any closer."

He obeyed with his feet, but not with his words.

"Don't you think I know what's going on? Don't you think we all do? Just because you won't say, doesn't mean it didn't happen. You're our friend, Blake. I am, whether you accept that or not. Just because I didn't have the exact same experience doesn't mean I don't know the thoughts running through your head now."

"What is it that you want? To analyze me? Add me to your 'collection of experiences'?"

"I just want to talk." To limit himself to that was painful, almost as much as her words that he couldn't help but take to heart. He could bear it, though. Maybe that's why he was here instead of his Other. "I could change my appearance if you're uncomfortable. Would it make things easier if I looked like Ruby?"

She couldn't help the unconscious flinch as her own body betrayed her. "You smell different."

"Blame it on biology, I guess." Another one of his mistakes slipped his mouth before he could catch it, and so quickly chased after. "I've seen both sides. Male, female, the good and the bad. Is it so hard to imagine that I- the we didn't entertain those kinds of thoughts at one time?"

"Yet more proof that you're stronger than us." Making no more effort to hide the kunai she stole in her rumpled dress. "That you're better than me."

"Is that the lie you're going to bet your life on?" Ears already drooped from malnutrition pressed flat against her head under that stern look of admonishment. "You know that's not true. None of it. And I refuse to let you use us as an excuse to kill yourself."

He could have plucked that knife form her weak grip with the greatest of ease. That he chose not to was far harder, and might prove to be another one of his mistakes. The premonition that continued to haunt him.

"Then what about any of the other excuses?" Threat near meaningless as her hand continued to tremble underneath his stern gaze. "That I'm a traitor."

"Lie." Flinching as if struck.

"That I don't deserve to be here."

"Lie."

"That I'm no good, broken, trash."

"Lie." Hearing the harshness in his own voice, Naruto gathered it all up and smothered it. "Someone once told me something in passing. I didn't understand it at the time, but now I think I do. 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those that betray their friends are worse than trash.'" So earnest he ignored her earlier warning and inched towards her. "We've all broken so many rules that we oughta be tossed in the dump- and maybe that's where we're headed, but we'll be there together. You didn't betray anyone, Blake. Your friends are still waiting for you to come back."

"But they won't always be there, will they? You won't always be here to stop me."

There came no rebuttal. It was obvious he was the wrong person for this, and his mistake was one that both he and Ruby were complicit in. Too caring, too determined, too jealous to be anything but harsh.

"No. We won't." No sense denying the hourglass which dribbled down for all of them. It was that very thing which brought him here, so that he might have one more chance to know the dark-haired girl before it ran out. "Nothing lasts forever. Certainly not happiness. Ruby and I may have gotten what we wanted, but it wasn't easy. I did a lot of things that I probably should regret but don't. Why? Because even though we know it's temporary, it's real. And, it's worth the pain."

Blake allowed him to approach and slowly sit down next to her. Maybe it was because she saw the gaping hole peeking out from the armor she had torn, and maybe it was because she wanted to know if there really was something beyond the suffering.

"And that's all the more reason to grab whatever joy there is." Gently he grasped the blade which she held loosely. "You think Adam took something from you, but that's only because you let him."

Before the ringed pommel had fully cleared, her slim fingers seized the grip and tried to wrench it from him. He would have let it if its point were to turn on him in retribution. But he couldn't- wouldn't take that chance as he clamped down on the diamond blade, ignorant to the way it cut into his palm.

Unable to wrench it away, she panicked. Made to leap up, escape from this unveiled predator before it could take what it wanted.

Knowingly compounding errors, he grabbed her arm and held her there next to him. Words came promptly like CPR- potentially harmful if done wrong, but steady, strong, life-saving.

"Please, Blake! You know I didn't mean it like that! Just listen to me for one second."

"Let go! Let me go!"

But he couldn't. Recognizing every misstep that he had made until that point did not lesson his resolve, only made it stronger to correct it. Thus he could not let her go and do something she would regret- the only thing she should ever regret.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise, but I need you to listen!" Her body was weak but even with both hands it was near impossible to keep her from wriggling out of his grasp as he tried not to do more damage than what had been dealt already.

Just as he sought to correct his mistakes, so too did Blake. Claims of worthlessness aside, she wasn't going to sit still and let it happen again.

"Don't touch me!"

The moment her fists struck him she knew something was wrong. Not the bizzareness of the situation, not that intoxicating unreality which gave her the courage to end things. No, this wrongness was entirely too real. His heartbeat under her hand a pounding hangover now that the sober scene registered to her malnourished mind.

"No…"

It shouldn't have been possible for her to feel worse than she already did. Yet with that kunai, she'd managed to dig a hole from the gutter in which she lay down to the sewer.

"It's not your fault." Talking of what as done to her, or what she just did to him- either seemed a delusion as she stared at the very real blood seeping through her fingers. "We all make mistakes, we all have regrets, things we wish we could go back and do over. But wishing so isn't going to let us. All it does is distract us from what's really there, from the good which still could be."

He took a step forward, she took a step back, still attached to him from the bit of metal sticking from underneath his clavicle.

"You're not broken Blake. No more than any of the rest of us."

He was the one with the back against the wall, yet her foot was rooted to the ground as he once again pressed forward. Instinct rebelling against it, mind fighting, yet some part of her desired- needed this embrace to validate the hope.

"I speak for all of us when I say that we still love you, no matter what. Happiness lasts less than a lifetime, so don't let it end early, and don't let anyone keep you from it. Least of all yourself."

He would take it all. Her scorn, her blows, her tears, because it was his fault to begin with and because he could. It might not have been his penance or his lot in life, but it was what he chose to do. And he would keep on doing it, long after he could no longer hold the girl in his arms, and long after he said goodbye.

'You're a fool.' His temporary roommate offered unsolicited, grumbling yet again about having to patch him up.

'Yeah,' He admitted. 'But I keep trying. Maybe one day I will get it right the first time, or things will change so that I won't have to.'

'Yeah, right.'

In the end, it was nothing short of a miracle.

Greater than that, because it was perfectly mundane. The convergence of a thousand individual efforts at a single place, a single moment. A thousand different pieces of life affecting and effecting one another to produce this extraordinary result.

Supplies came in as if they were grains of sand on a desert wind. Scrounged from the darkest, most forgotten corners of Vale's remnants. Borrowed from those who probably couldn't afford it, given freely from those that had nothing left but this. Helping hands revealed more about their cohorts than what had been shown their entire school lives.

And in turn, uncovered more about themselves.

No building could contain the festivities, not least because the grand hall was still under repair, but because the unspoken zest for life demanded a greater venue. It spilled from the kitchen outwards, everything feeding off that one hub which had somehow accumulated enough supplies to last for several days.

No tablecloths or formal niceties were necessary. Assorted lamps were strung on wires from unfinished corners and construction equipment, hanging there amidst the open skies like faeries and complimenting the stars which never seemed so bright. The rolling blackouts demanded and supported it, light pollution from the city dropping off to nothing and sequestering the campus in a veil of night.

Music came from the touched hearts of students and teachers alike. Vagabonds new and old passing through were not refused, they chipped in for the opportunity to share and a bite to eat. Instruments formal and improvised all had their turn on the makeshift stage. A constant and eclectic stream of sound that kept them dancing and swaying in circles, frenetic and lazy in tempo, hour after hour. The swaying of an indiscriminate coterie of colors, formal dresses ancient and modern, pristine and patched, outfits meticulously made from scraps mingling with guarded family heirlooms. Emotions pinned to the cuffs a more common accessory than a corsage.

Life lit up the night. Sometimes a frenzy, sometimes a slow-burn like a walk over hot coals where faith was the only thing keeping things moving. Grievances were hashed out in fits of passion and then promptly forgotten by all parties in a religious cleansing of alcohol.

Somewhere in that mess, someone was given penance. Somewhere, someone was pardoned. Somewhere, a bunny got her eye-for-an-eye, and a new comrade because of it.

It was the same sort of affirmation that took place before, whenever there passed a great calamity. Save this time there was not a soul on duty, no one remained the designated party-pooper nagging them all that their task was far from over and that eventually the drinks would stop flowing, the music would drift off and the fires would die out. Just for a moment, there was no tomorrow.

Just for one, fleeting moment.

Coming down from her high tower, the new headmistress attempted to preside silently in contemplation and nostalgia at the edge of notice. It was not to be as she was accosted by a never-ending stream of those concerned for her wellbeing, people whom she couldn't recall having spoken more than their name during roll dragged her into the bacchanalia.

Relatives and extended family were not excluded, and if they could make it they did. Conversations were light and optimistic, even between the estranged and strange members of Xiao-Long-Rose. Tai had opted to keep his beard, hoping causality would make him a wiser man than he was before. Qrow couldn't keep his teetotalism during the celebrations, and no one could blame him.

Not even the Schnee sisters who received his advances without prejudice (but with a good slap or two, later forgiven as it all was).

It was a time of forgiveness after a fashion. No one knew what would happen after, and no one cared to speculate as the possibilities seemed endless in that artificial Mag Mell. Happy to pretend that the mingling fae bewitched them for amusement- whose was uncertain.

A single moment, but one which spanned three nights of ecstasy where they slept during the gentle day. Sufficient time for many events of singular extraordinariness.

Plenty of time for frivolous dancing, as each took their turn with the blond novelty, spinning one into the other.

"It's astounding how good you've gotten in such a short time." Yet hiding his own spiritual inebriation, the Mistralian youth graced his dance-partner with a proud smirk.

"We have you to thank for that." With restraint only enough to let himself be led in the paces, the otherworlder smiled back. "I still need Shadow-Clones to catch up, but Ruby's a natural."

"Is that right?" Amusement as they swayed to the undulating waltz.

"You're surprised?" Despite self-depreciation, never missing a step as he carried on the conversation.

"No." Ren chuckled, twirling the shorter male with a casual grace. "No, I suppose not."

Surprise was too commonplace by this point, and yet it never stopped drawing the attention of those who should have been immune to it. Several other pairs stopped to watch the two friends in their elegant display, predictable bemusement which only added to the fantastical atmosphere.

She watched too, satisfied on the sidelines just to observe from an outsider's perspective. She did not need to be the one constantly by his side to feel the connection they shared, as it was stronger now than ever before. No inverse mathematics governed their energy.

To their joy and horror, they discovered it was impossible to get any closer than they were. Not for lack of trying, shedding layers until there was nothing but skin between souls. Eager, awkward, nervous despite, those unbroken nights were not a time for regrets, and so they didn't. They were on the same page- with this as with everything, and that was more profound than any physical connection.

"Hey there."

Swearing off embarrassment, her present rosy tinge darkened as it felt like she was caught doing something she shouldn't. But the blissful smile extended to her along with the hand brushed off any such notion.

"Care to dance?"

Not the blond Ruby was expecting, though she perhaps should have. Losing track of the hour, the day, it was probably just the right moment. "Alright." Laughing silver eyes stared beyond the young man to the dance floor. "Are you sure you don't want to dance with someone else, though?"

"Eh…" Already knowing what lay over his shoulder, Jaune pictured both their partners arm and arm. Now his turn to change hue as he caught on to her teasing tone. "*Ahem*, she seems to be kind of occupied right now. I suppose I'll get my chance sometime, but I don't want to waste any opportunities that are right here in front of me."

Impossible not to laugh, as even in sincerity there was something undefinable about the gawky young man. She took his hand anyway, letting him lead her into the ebb and flow whereabouts the others bobbed.

Naruto and Pyrrha cut a wide berth, other couples giving them plenty of room as they stumbled and jutted about the area. Somehow two of the most graceful on their feet kept stepping on each other's toes.

"You're distracted."

"Sorry!" Chagrined, she looked back to see him with a playful smirk.

"It's okay." Chuckling as they narrowly missed running into another pair. "You're not very good at this, are you?"

Frowning at the slight to her performance, the redhead concentrated on her feet and yet managed to miss the next several steps anyway. "I haven't… practiced in a while." A true defense, but a fib he noticed with each flicker of her eye.

"I'm not that great either, ya know." With him, trying to lead her out of danger managed to make them more a hazard to the other dancers. "But I didn't mean the dancing."

Face matched hair as Pyrrha realized how easily she had been read. "I'm sorry." Admitting how rude she was being by not paying attention to her current engagement.

"I'll let you in on a secret." With a smile that was the equivalent of a pardon, he leaned in to her ear on his tiptoes with a husky whisper. "No one is."

Hot breath tickled her ear, scratched something in her brain which made her shiver.

"So why did you want to dance with me?" Getting back on his feet and into the swing of things before the current musicians decided to give up on them. "Not for the prestige, obviously. Was it to make him jealous?" His guess was no doubt as erroneous as their footwork. Admittedly, he didn't know nearly enough about the former champion and desired to rectify that.

"No." Shaking her head and becoming more relaxed, more in tune. "I just wanted to know what the others- what he sees in you."

"And?"

"I think…"

The intensity of his focus startled her and drew their catastrophic movements to a halt. An island of stillness and sobriety where the other dancers were able to safely navigate around them. She was about to answer but caught sight of something that made her pause. Another person not with the flow.

Naruto noticed too when she floundered with a response. He looked over his shoulder to the darkly-clothed individual hiding at the very edge of notice.

"Sorry-" Perfectly aware of the irony, he shot Pyrrha an apologetic smile. The statuesque woman in turn chose to emulate the divine mother, forgiving and urging him on. "-Gotta go!"

Watching him hurry off like a personal firefighter, Pyrrha sighed wistfully. Satisfied, bemoaning only the end of the song, a lost opportunity.

"I understand now."

That said, she was second-guessing herself when instead of heading for the pale woman under the garden lattice, he suddenly took a left turn into the bush and ducked out of sight.

She was not left alone and wonder for long.

"Milady?"

No regrets, happily exchanging one blond for another, she chalked up the oddity to just one more in that chaotic experience. Holding on only to the whisper, she held hands with her team captain as the next song began, disregarding all else.

Meanwhile, in the time it took for Pyrrha to forget her confusion, Naruto had reappeared next to the woman who was trying so hard to pass through that curtain into the world of the living.

"Are you going to join us, Blake?"

Cautious as it was, the girl still jumped at the greeting. Flinching at every unexpected noise and sudden movement, she turned with wariness.

"Do I… know you?"

"…Seriously?" The smile was meticulously molded into place and so stayed put even while his tone fell. "I guess that means I did a good job, but it still kind of hurts."

As if the cat-Faunus needed any better vision in the darkness, she squinted at his painted face while still keeping a healthy distance.

"Naruto?" Skeptical of her own eyes at first, the one-word question morphed into demand for explanation.

"Heh, heh, yeah, well…" Resisting the urge to scratch the back of his head and thus muss up the meticulously straightened hair, he fidgeted as nervously as a high-schooler on Prom night. "…Surprise?"

"Naruto…" Not reiterating, but working up the courage to ask the rest. "…Why are you dressed like a girl?"

With a long-suffering sigh he let himself droop, uncaring if the overall effect went with it.

"I dunno, to prove a point I guess?" Straightening up had him playing with the hem of the dress he borrowed from Ruby which was much, much too short. "And so that you could relax and enjoy yourself."

Amber eyes which had lost their luster were polished with each blink.

"For… me?"

"I'm sorry." Forgetting about all other discomfort as he focused on this one pain. "I shouldn't have pressed you before. I know I can be too blunt at times and that's probably the whole 'male testosterone' thing coming through. But I just hope you understand… I really do mean well. No matter how many times I screw up."

She did. He was like Ruby in that respect. Maybe not as pure of heart, but in his intentions. And maybe that was a good thing, for she of all knew the world wasn't always a nice place and it needed people who were willing to do what was necessary. She was even willing to admit that his actions were perhaps just so.

"I know it's going to be a while before you can feel comfortable around guys again, and I thought that this would help. So I just hope you can forgive me and," As if not connected to that face, that personality, the hand he held out appealed almost daintily. "would you honor me with a dance?"

Able to look him in the eyes for the first time, she saw the earnestness in his words. His actions spoke for themselves. He had gone through so much effort with the persona when she knew he was capable of simply casting an illusion.

She sniffed. "You hid your scent." Which also explained why she hadn't recognized him at first.

"It wasn't easy." A hint of pride and a little bit of bravado slipped through the heavy makeup, but she could ignore that easily enough.

"I know." Continuing to eye the hand as if it concealed a weapon. "You were wrong, though."

Unable to hold it, the smile on his face cracked. Before he could join the fragments on the ground, Blake caught him and lifted them both up.

"-I never blamed you." With her other hand she reached out and completely enfolded his. "-For any of it. I've always known that you're a good person, Naruto." Wedging a small smile on her face. "You're Ruby's, after all."

"As are you." Ballooning up that smile and raising the interlocked hands between them. Drawing them closer he noted her continued hesitance, but also the struggle against it. "Shall we?"

There was a dearth as if the music was waiting for them and in that pause her nod was heard clearly.

A melody as gentle as the way he held her hands floated them. She was so skinny and light, he had to stop and remind himself that she wouldn't simply drift away. With hands he could now use without fear, he wanted to feed her, care for her as long as he could.

Which lasted the song's duration, and then he was reminded that she was strong and could stand on her own.

"Thank you." A smile, small but true.

Repaying it, he tacked on a curtsy to her amusement. "It was nothing. However, I believe I should take my leave." Blake honestly looked disappointed. A little nervous too as she looked around, aware of the crowd for the first time. "I think there is someone who also desires a dance."

Eventually she saw what he did, and the smile returned.

"Mind if I cut in?"

"Not at all," He winked at Ruby as she slid in to his position, grazing his hands. "That is if the lady wishes it."

"I guess I wouldn't mind." Feigning reticence, she was quick enough to accept the gesture when it was offered and the two teammates gave themselves some space.

"Aren't you going to take that stuff off?" Ruby asked over her shoulder.

"Hmm?" Watching them move off dreamily, he was honestly content to keep doing so. "Bah, you're just jealous that I pull this outfit off better than you."

Trekking back, he felt his Other blow a raspberry, Blake give a coughing laugh, and somewhere off in the revelries an inebriated fashionista loudly supporting his statement.

He smiled, twirling with the crowd as he made his way through in a daze. The people blended around him, the lights blurred and reality tilted just a little bit off-center. He forgot what time it was, what day, what world he was in, what gender and what his name was. Not his companions though, his friends stood out like the lamps amid the night.

He didn't happen to notice as B took the stage though. The dark-skinned rapper replaced the plain-faced violinist who had played modestly in most songs that evening. Like B, no one recognized him nor could tell where he had come from. But he had carried the atmosphere for so long that no one cared. Not going far, he took up a position in the man's gargantuan shadow. From there he began a slow and somber drone to lay the groundwork.

A steady rhythm followed, a timbre and solemnity Naruto barely remembered the exuberant man capable of. The blond looked up from his uncomfortable high-heels when the first syllables in practiced English tap-danced over the audience.

"The rungs of this ladder are broken

We're stuck in a pit

To forget the escape is the way out

But what's one to do when the only thing comforting leads to an eternal sleep underground

Everyone has their addictions everybody's weak and everyone someday will die

If everything's random we're so insignificant and none of this matters then why even try

We're all just costumed illusions of self

We sift through the filth to discover our wealth

But riches are not always silver and gold

Just somebody to love and a clean bill of health

Is what this life is all about

And I know that it's easy to get caught up in trivial shit

But when the roof is cavin' in just remember that none of this matters in death~"

In voices even softer than B's unusual restraint, the other musicians on stage intoned the chorus, slow and enchanting.

"~So take your hands off of the wheel and let the chips fall where they may

Time is short and death is sure, so just be grateful for today~"

"~A life time of whiskey a couple of years

A life of mistakes for a couple of beers

We're marionettes and the puppeteers clutchin' so fucking hard

Trying to paint on a smile

That they think looks right but their rights are our wrong

The nights are too short and the days are too long

When they want you to color inside of the lines

But the picture looks better with scribbles outside

Of the lessons we've learned

When the bridges are burnt

And the power goes out the control that you've earned

Means nothing

We're all gonna die

We're runnin' out of time

So what I do is none of your concern. just...~"

The chorus faded in and out one more time after the indefinite ending, but it seemed to resound in the drunken minds now made sober by this provocative lyrical.

Hardly anyone recognized when the Kumo ninja left the stage with a smile, assuming everyone was too stunned to clap. They were, but Naruto still watched him go, circle around to join him leaning against the bare-wood table that was covered with more empty bottles than full.

The two shinobi stood side by side as near opposites.

"So… when'd ya learn English?"

"He, he, while you be hangin' with your crew, B learned a thing or two."

With no one else eager to fill the roll, the same violinist who'd played accompaniment stepped up once more. He looked out across the crowd and met their eyes with a wink that was clear even through his rose-colored glasses.

"…You only memorized the lyrics, didn't you?"

"Po-ta-toe, po-tah-toe." B smirked down at his smaller companion. "Learned that one too, ya know?"

Naruto's laugh was like the tinkling of glass as he leaned back against the table. "You're weird."

"You're one to talk, says the guy that's right now tucking his c-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

Instead of acting as a soundtrack to underscore actions, the music started up again to dictate the course of the party once more. Interrupting them as if he were a part of the conversation, that foreign musician started speaking through sound. A beat no faster than the one he set for B, merely feeling like it as each note bristled with barely-restrained energy.

Eyes lifted from his well-loved instrument, he shot the two a knowing look that balanced on a long-held note. The other performers looked to him now too, as did the audience as all were wrapped up on his upstroke.

It came down in tone that would have had any classical musician cowering, but had the audience leaping on their feet.

"~In truth, we never give up on the philosopher's stone

I guess anything you wanna do you gotta do it on your own

For a love of you, for the love of me,

For the love of ev-ery-one who's yet to be free~"

The phrase was lost on Naruto, but not on B whose laugh was drowned out by the guitar and drums surging in for the chorus.

"~Borders are scars on face of the planet,

So heal away my alchemy man

When even atheist holds up a candle

We rise again,

We rise again!

With a fist full of heart and relics of the future,

We rise again.

With a fist full of heart and relics of future,

Opa! We rise again!~"

Letting the guitarist carry the tune, the unassuming man focused on signing his heart out. Chanting words in cursive, another language that neither he nor B recognized. It didn't seem to matter as they flowed out of his mouth and wrapped around the hearts of listeners. Jerking the people into a frenzy, both in turn feeding off one another and carrying the party forward.

Reignited, reinvigorated. Nothing seemed to matter any longer, and at the same time it was all more important than anything most had done in their short existences. It was safe to assume that no one would be forgetting either Jinchῡriki in the near future. Nor would they neglect the memories taken from this once-in-a-billion-billion chance.

"So, you really gonna leave this?"

And the thing which made it all special, the knowledge that it wouldn't last. Magic ephemerality a fleeting tear in his eye as Naruto looked on all the carefree people and answered.

"Yeah."

His fellow shinobi… his friend grunted acceptance, leaving them both to watch and admire people who knew they had but postponed death and were promised many more hardships before it was over. Dawn would only illuminate the less-than-perfect truth.

But one could not simply sleep life away.

"Even in the light of the rising sun…" Past the horizon B stared, over his dark sunglasses which couldn't hope to eclipse that eventuality. "-Won't say it wasn't fun!"

Faces popped from the crowd, specialness even in the homogeneity. Naruto committed them to memory. Not simply a static photograph in his mind but coming with context, his heart thrumming along with the music and breathing life to the picture. The moment of bittersweet joy, a scar he would carry forever.

"Yeah." He agreed. "It really was."

Is. For that moment would live in eternity, just like every song ever sung, every story ever told.

"~Living and loving!

Truth is always the same

Living and loving!

The rest is insane…~"

The end.

Not the day after, nor the one after that. Perhaps a week, perhaps several- it was all the same. Those joyous memories were like objects in the mirror, always closer than they appeared.

The same as any other, beginning with the sun rising through the window and baking the room, spurring him to leave the shared bunk before it lost its coziness. He decided to mix it up with a shower that morn. Something different, a ritual cleansing before fetching breakfast for the five of them.

Little mundane variances like that, surprises which never ceased to amuse him. Living in parallel with Ruby he learned she usually woke a half-hour later than he did, which allowed him to dote on her in the mornings. Alone before the rest of her team staggered upright at least an hour after that.

'You really like it here, don't you?' Quietly as he could, Naruto ducked in the bathroom with new clothes. Really, hand-me-downs from all his new friends. 'Are you really going to leave?'

His reflection smiled back from the mirror, weary from cramming life in to every wrinkle. 'Yes,'. His hand gently rubbed the side of his head, feeling the ridges and runnels that had healed unevenly from Cinder's burn. 'And no. Part of me will never leave, and part of it is coming with me.'

There was a snort in his head which he drowned out with the rush of hot water from the shower.

'You don't really believe that drivel, do you?'

Humming a soft tune, one persisting in his head from the festivities, he lathered up his hair that had grown nearly to his shoulders, letting it wash off his back and not minding the tingle of the scar. By the time he got to scrubbing his feet, it was clear that silence was his answer.

'Why?'

Pausing with the towel around his waist, he looked at the mirror and blinked in surprise as if there were someone else in the fog behind him.

'What do you mean?'

'Here you have everything you ever wanted.' Jealousy and disparagement muffled by the towel running roughshod over his head. 'I can't understand you. Are you some kind of masochist? Or is this a mechanism that all humans share, meant to keep you in the cycle of hatred by denying yourself happiness?

Naruto hummed as he rolled up the pantlegs on what used to be Jaune's old jeans. Making it seem as if he were contemplating the question but really just wondering if he would ever grow into them.

'Love means having to sacrifice, doesn't it?'

He exited the chamber, thinking on the ones he made a promise to so long ago and so far away. People he loved no less than the ones waiting for him on the other side of that door. He would do anything for them.

They were already awake in anticipation. Without prior warning, somehow kenning to the uniqueness of today. Special, and yet also perfectly mundane, normal, as if it was a simple 'see you later' and not a 'so long'. Smiles not betraying this.

"Well," Trying hard not to decry this truth, the former-heiress played along. "Shall we get some breakfast?"

Red and yellow left hand in hand in hand. Black and white, Weiss linked her arm to support her peaked teammate and drag her along whether she wanted it or not.

Happy, despite it all.

Or was it? Did there need to be any contradiction, or could it just be read as 'Happy'?

Naruto thought on this question along with his own posed to Kurama's unaltered ego while walking shoulder to shoulder with his team down the scaffolded hallways. Was happiness finding the silver lining, the good in the bad, or was it something even more fundamental? Realizing that there was always light in the universe, so long as one did not look solely towards the center.

Trying not to think on this too much as they broke their fast on a simple meal of oatmeal and fresh fruit. Focusing on the faces, the talk, the rations which were a stark contrast from the binging several nights prior- but not in any way worse. Food for the body, as around him was food for the soul.

Always by his side, always there to help him, Ruby squeezed his hand which rested underneath the table. No doubt the touch was one of the handful that remained, but no one was counting.

There was no tallying of favors and no debts to be paid. What they did was done for love, and love is given freely. It is not something to be claimed or even earned- unrestrained as that blue sky over the heads of the group he lead on a pilgrimage out of the dining hall.

They followed him out to the cluttered lawn. From there, he avowed each follower in turn- there were so many of them. So many people their story had touched.

Now it was time for their own story, where they were the main characters and himself just a parable, a hieroglyph of love. They would go on ahead while he went back to help others catch up.

'And how do you know that's even going to work?' Voice of doubt uncalled for, but always there. 'I could be lying, you know. It might be too late to save him, if that were ever my intention in the first place.'

'It is. It's not. And it was.' Answering the questions in order while from the group he received a few gifts besides the clothes on his back. 'Because I believe in you.'

'Fool.' A venom blunted by direction, turned inward and seeking solace without. 'I do not pretend to fully grasp the workings of gods and the universe. For all I know, that Zetsu creature could have been telling the truth. What then?'

'Then,' He began the arduous task of scribing the complex calligraphy onto the stone promenade, under the eyes of an audience who wouldn't dare look away. 'So be it. It doesn't change things.'

'Doesn't it? I'll admit you probably understand the mechanics better than I, as you have dealt with it on a physical plane. But one little mistake, one wrong line based on a false assumption and the whole thing could be ruined. The place I came from was without time and distance, passing through there might have unfathomable results. Sure, we may return to your world, but perhaps inside a volcano, in the middle of space where the Earth hasn't formed yet or at the end of time where the sun will die and everyone you ever knew will have as well.'

Naruto paused in his stroke, an oblong spiral in the image of a galaxy. 'Why did you help me?'

'What?'

'Why did you choose to come here and help me? There was always the chance that I wouldn't go back for your brother. There are still all the possibilities you mentioned. If you were worried, you could have done any number of other things which I know you thought of. Bided your time, argued more with Kurama to release the bridge- hell, you could have remained in possession of my body, and I doubt that I would have been able to stop you.'

The sound of a contemptuous snort overlay his next brushstroke.

'Maybe I wanted to give you a chance to prove yourself different than other ningen.'

'I am not different.' Naruto contradicted with a bold stroke. 'And you wanted to believe in me- believe in that. The good that still exists in the world.'

Where he expected a sneer or snide remark, all he received was silence.

'Maybe I did.'

Proving the world still held surprises.

Depositing his brush in a stone inkwell that used to sit on the headmaster's desk, he traded it out for a pencil as he began to carefully sketch the last parts of the seal. When he finished, he looked up to see several dozen sets of eyes watching in anticipation, and one in knowing.

Ruby stepped forward and offered her hand. With a kunai he carved a new lifeline on her palm, letting the droplets of blood well up before trickling carefully into the stone basin, mixing with the current solution of ink and his own essence.

One by one the others followed.

People overflowing with life and hope gave it freely, expecting nothing in return- except that unspoken promise, that trust, the bond of extraordinary knowledge. None of which he would ever forget.

At last a shadow eclipsed him. B's smile was subdued but supportive, as sturdy as the wall of muscle which made up his physical body. After his turn the inkpot was nearly overflowing, but Pyrrha managed to help by mixing the iron in the blood and keeping it from spilling over the lips. He finished the circle with plenty of excess which he used to retrace all his other lines. It took a while, but he was in no hurry.

Time came soon enough, as it always did.

"See ya, squirt. Don't be Ruto and forget to write." Strong face and even stronger hug, Yang was the first to move. And the first to be moved, as even then she could not hold back a few tears. "And thanks, for being there."

The first of many such thanks. For the strength he lent, Blake stepped forward. Even then, warring with herself.

For the hope he gave, Weiss came up, letting her vulnerability be seen by all.

For courage by any other name, Jaune shook the hand of his only living hero.

Because he could, Ren approached. "Don't be a stranger." He said with a sincere smirk.

For multitudes of individual reasons, and for all that they had unwittingly done for him. Proving he wasn't simply the man behind the curtain, but one among them. Just another traveler along that road.

His fellow rover was not exempt from this experience. Even with the language barrier still firmly in place, it was hard to interpret Nora's tearful separation any other way. B standing there with a firm smile while all the first-year students tried to pry the herculean girl from around his waist against her verbal and physical protests. If it could be considered strange, she was not the only one.

Qrow might have had a litany of words prepared for him, carefully considered and edited over the past weeks of near-silence. And he might have finally scraped up enough of the viscous sober courage to do it, had Naruto not acted first and embraced the man. Hard. It was highly possible there were a few pops from the man's back and sternum, as he purposefully tried to make the hug as uncomfortable as possible. Love was like that, too.

Taiyang knew that one awaited him as well, but came up anyway.

It was only barely into the afternoon when the list had been played out. Several hours hardly seemed enough to contain what passed, yet it all folded into a neat little quantized package in his brain that he could take with him wherever he went. Like the Kabutowari on his belt which had finally been bequeathed a name:

Shameless Folly

Of course, there were other names missing. All of them hard to fault for their absence. He had toyed with the idea of offering Neo and her partner a place where their skills would be more appreciated. It would have been nice, but they would do fine on their own, that was certain.

Ozpin was harder to reconcile. But then again, maybe it was better that some things remain a mystery.

Now, as he waited patiently for the instantaneous flash of light to consume them, he reflected on all those different ways to say thanks and to say sorry. Out of all those goodbyes, all the different expressions of love, he would have liked to say that Ruby's had been the most memorable. That chaste kiss upon his forehead while she stood on her tiptoes had said so much, almost all that could be said with a single action.

But it wouldn't be the truth. For the shadow cast on the back of his mind from that intense light was none other than Glynda Goodwitch. A simple hand on his shoulder as her image mouthed the words:

Until we meet again.

"Kurama?"

"Who else?"

A question I was afraid might be answered in an echo. When it spoke, it give rise to the possibility of others here besides myself. How many were lurking in the nothingness, and I had simply refused to see them? What else had been there, hiding in plain sight?

"It's good to see you again." Without concealment, there was no way to be anything but sincere.

"I'm glad to see you too."

Happy to see anything at all, most of all someone who looked at me as something familiar. As if millions of lifetimes apart not enough to separate, the two of us no one can undo.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm thankful."

"I left you here."

"You came."

The silence was more painful than trying to speak, and so through the pain it caused me I tried to banish it.

"Will you stay here?"

"No," Before he could leave I surged to hold on. Or was it he who reached for me? Which was which hardly mattered anymore. "We're going back."

"Back?" Back by going forward, it was all the same as he pulled me along. Steps taken on nothing, towards nothing. "Where?"

"Home."

"Home… where the heart is."

"Yeah, that's right."

It all became clearer as he led me onwards. Never much ahead, always by my side. From the blinding light faded a doorway which opened as we approached. Inside there was another light, which revealed I had been in shadow all that time.

"Kurama?"

Warbling cries of birds and the shrill solos of cicadas all trying to outdo one another was the only thing that greeted him for a while as he sweated under the oppressive heat of the tropical island.

'Who else?'

Genuine sarcasm, churning like a stomach ache as limbs were stretched and muscles flexed.

With a whoop he flopped backwards, looking up at the canopy dyed amber in what could have been the beginning of a new day or the end of an old. Laughter heaved his chest as he flailed around on the ground like a starfish, craning his neck to see everything and everyone right where it should be.

"We're back."

'It would seem so.'

"I'm sorry." Apologizing for his eyes which began to shut on their own, even as others were opened for the first time. "I hope you weren't waiting long."

'Mm. Just an eternity or so.'

Already he was asleep, breathing steady in and out with the giant turtle underneath. The world propped on its back of no consequence. His dreams- or perhaps his reality bringing a smile to his face.

'Just an eternity. Not long at all…'