RWBY: The Path We Walk

by Zireks

The Vytal tragedy changed everything. Friendships in shambles, Grimm and White Fang on a rampage, a terrified world spiraling off the brink off war, and the one who caused it all is still at large. A story of redemption and trust, of revenge and justice, and of the fate of the world which rests on the shoulders of a couple teenagers in way over their heads. (Post Volume 3 AU)

38. Chapter 34: Keep Moving Forward

Chapter 34: Keep Moving Forward

Raven thought her first job as a huntress would smell of something different than corpses baking in the desert sun. She wasn't naive of course, she knew there would be death, but, wow.

She sat on a withered ancient stump and dragged a dirtied cloth across her katana, hoping to remove the blood before it dried in the Vacuan heat. About a dozen yards to her left lay Vacuo's most wanted criminal, Vermillion Oxblood, in a crumpled mess of his own bones and blood.

Her twin brother Qrow sauntered around the corner, took one look down at the glob of flesh discarded for the vultures to feast on, and sighed. "I highly doubt that was necessary." He said, tired, yet still managing to muster up some sass.

Raven glanced over at her victim then towards her brother. As much as she berated him for his scruffy looks he was relatively handsome. Thick black hair, strong chin, and a muscular youthful build. Despite the ghastly heat and the bitter fighting he still managed to maintain an aloof charm. She could almost see what Summer saw in him, almost.

"Come to sulk with me and not your girlfriend?"

"Ex-girlfriend."

"That never stopped you in second year with little Goody-witch."

Qrow sighed, his eyes gravitating back towards Vermillion and groaned. "I guess we won't be bringing him in alive."

"He pushed me to my limit, in the last moment it was either him or me."

Qrow gave her a sceptical glare. "Yeah, sure."

He didn't get it. Some people in this world just need to die. The Headmaster knew this but still told them to hold back, damn that Oz. She lifted her blade, Yozomai into the air to inspect it. The sun's anger glinted off its Scarlet surface. In its deep hue she could see the reflection of her own face. As much as she hated his jabs at her appearance she was beginning to see bags forming under her eyes and-dust was that the start of a wrinkle under her right eye? Well it didn't matter, huntsmen and huntresses aged quickly, that was the price she would be willing to pay for this job. The only job worth having in such a broken, stunted world.

Raven took another glance at Qrow and her eyes widened. "Qrow, what the hell are you drinking?"

Qrow quickly moved to hide a small silver container behind his back. "Nothing."

Raven frowned, no doubt worsening her potential wrinkles. "Give it."

Qrow let out an elongated sigh of resignation and handed her a flask of whiskey.

"And you had this why?"

"Qrow smirked, well it just so happens that yesterday was my birthday, sooo-" He snatched the flask from her hand, "For the second time in my life I get to proudly say the words, I'm legal."

Before Raven could object further he downed a gulp of the Alcoholic liquid then grimaced. "Gah, it burns."

Raven rolled her eyes. "There you tried it and didn't like it, now give."

Qrow jerked his hand backwards to keep the flask from her then downed another shot. "Nah, I think I kinda like it, really cleanses the palate after-" He gestured to the smear of human remains with a grunt.

He went in for another drink when Raven grabbed his hand. "Qrow-"

"Relax, I won't end up like dad."

Raven shook her head and let go. "Let's go find everyone else."

Qrow glanced at his flask then placed it in his pocket with a shrug and filed in behind his sister as they strolled into Vermillion's camp, taking in the carnage at a slow and leisurely pace. If someone asked Raven what the three most destructive forces on Remnant were she would reply without hesitation; tsunamis, Grimm, and Huntsmen. The large compound was littered with the bodies of bandits in various stages of dismemberment and nearly every makeshift building was either a pile of rubble or a raging fire. The stench of death permeated through the air and intermingled with that of billowing smoke.

At the far end of the camp she saw a woman in a thin white cloak huddled up against a palm tree overlooking the great expanse of Vacuo's endless desert. Raven shook her head. "Getting emotional on the job as always."

Qrow put his hand on Raven's shoulder. "Not everyone can be as detached as you are, just give her some time to process everything."

A strapping young man with sandy blonde hair like a surfer sauntered up next to Summer and leaned against the tree she had chosen as her hiding place. Tai, Raven twitched with annoyance.

Qrow smirked. "So I guess I'm not the only one having relationship troubles?"

"Suck a dick brother."

Qrow chuckled to himself. "Man Tai really is trying to make good on that whole "Entire Team" promise he made."

"Like I said, suck a dick."

Qrow shook his head. "Guess I walked into that one."

A loud crash and a shout came from the center of camp. Knowing their well intended yet utterly oblivious teammates probably hadn't heard it, The Branwen Twins quickly went to investigate.

Rounding the edge of the shallow oasis the camp was built upon they entered the gates to what the bandit camp had built itself around, the battle arena. Bones and severed skin tanned to look like leather lined the edges of the makeshift coliseum as well as the massive flesh banner that flew over a bone throne where Vermillion had no doubt sat during their games.

Qrow eyed the decorum with revulsion. "How this place wasn't swarming with grimm is beyond me."

Raven didn't so much as blink upon entering and continued forward. "The desert was a natural barrier, besides this was the strongest bandit tribe in all of Vacuan territory. Nothing short of a small horde of grimm could have toppled this place."

Her eyes locked on what she assumed was the source of the sound. "That's why they sent us."

At the far side of the arena lounged two members of the other team that had accompanied them on the mission, Team MLAC (Malachite). Raven never liked these two, but then again she never liked anyone.

"Anyone gonna tell me what that noise was?"

One of the members of team MALC, a lanky blue haired man named Azure, gave Raven a carnivorous glare. "Well if it isn't our bloodthirsty little angel, come on pull up a skull and let's have a chat!"

His brother, a larger yet equally creepy man by the name of Carbuncle let out a strangled laugh at Azure's advance and offered nothing else to the conversation.

Raven grimaced. "I'm going to stop you right there. No, I will not date you, and if you ask me again I will disembowel you just like I did with Vermillion."

Azure's smile faltered. "Wait, you mean-you-you actually beat him? By yourself? By the bluest of Dust you really do live up to your own reputation little birdie."

Another crash came from an opening in the wall of the arena. A man clutching his hand, nursing what looked like a bite wound, came scrambling out. "Dammit she bit me!" He screamed.

Raven shook her head. The man in question was the senior huntsmen accompanying the two teams on their first true mission for their Fourth Year Graduation Exam. However Tange, despite being experienced as well as young, was far from a high ranking huntsman. In fact he had turned out to be so painfully average in skill that he had stayed behind the bulk of their fighting as a strategist, even then Qrow and herself had taken over that duty halfway through the battle.

The disgruntled thirty year old snarled and muttered obscenities as his aura closed up his flesh bound. "Damn dirty animal, going and biting her gift horse in the mouth, erm, hand."

He looked up at Raven and Qrow, the brother barely holding back a laugh. "He pointed at them with one of his unwounded fingers. "You two, go in there and help drag that thing out of its cage! You're both faunus, maybe you can talk some sense into your feral kin!"

Qrow rolled his eyes. Tange was referring to their hereditary semblance, the ability to transform into Crows and Ravens respectively. It didn't make them faunus themselves but during the week length of their mission Tange hadn't shown any inclination to learn from his misconception nor any hesitation at using it as an outlet for his nightly rants about the faunus and how Vermillion "wouldn't be so bad" if he had just stuck to slaving animals.

"Fine, we'll see what we can do."

"Hold up, hold up, I almost forgot." Tange fished four silvery badges from his pocket and tossed one to each of the four students in attendance. "Official certification. You guys passed. You're huntsmen. Congratulations." He said with little feeling before trudging off through the sandy arena to find Summer and Tai.

Raven turned the badge in her hand. It was shimmering brilliantly with its dust engravings interwoven with the coat of arms of all four Huntsmen Academies emblazoned upon them.

Qrow whistled. "Looks like we made it after all sis." He said this while never letting his eyes stray from the prize he held carefully in his hand. Raven wasn't sure what he saw in it, to her it was a gaudy trinket that acted as a stand in for something that held much more meaning, and much more power.

The two placed their trophies in their pockets and entered the hole in the arena wall. On the other side they found multiple rows of metal and wooden cages which they assumed were used to hold slaves the bandits had captured and forced to fight for their amusement. Mounted on the far wall of the chamber, looming above the cages, was an expansive collection of taxidermy heads of faunus. There was one for nearly every kind, even a rare falcon faunus native to the mountains of Atlas. They all stared down at the twins with unblinking eyes and dead expressions. Qrow sighed and snuck drink from his flask.

Raven almost called him out on it but her attention was drawn away by another crash. At the end of the room she saw the other two members of team MLAC, a pair of faunus by the names of Magenta and Lilac huddled around a hole in the wall. There was shattered glass strewn about the floor.

Lilac looked up at the new arrivals. She was a rather frail girl with a tiny mouse nose and an even smaller pink tail protruding from the small of her back. Her face was sickly pale, a result of the fighting and the rather uncomfortable decorum of the room, however a thin but warm smile spread across her face.

She spoke in a squeaky yet admittedly adorable voice. "Oh thank the Elders you're here! Please you have to help her, are arguments haven't been very-"

Magenta jumped backwards with a curse as what looked like a red vase barreled out of the hole and smashed into the ground.

Lilac sighed. "Persuasive."

Raven nodded, despite Lilac's fragile build she kept an air of strength. Because of this she respected her. She knelt down beside the hole next to MLAC leader Magenta, a feisty brawler with sharpened antlers atop her head.

"Bleeding fool, I have half a mind to-"

Raven gripped her hand as she instinctively reached for the whip at her side. "Don't escalate the situation." She demanded.

Magenta sighed and sheepishly nudged herself away from the hole. Lilac scampered over to sit with her, smiling to cheer her up. She might have been the leader of the second strongest team at Beacon but she had so little control. How she managed to stay leader for four years was beyond Raven. Then again she didn't seem to do a very good job of wrangling in the Cascade brothers. She had Lilac's support though, so that was something at least.

She inched closer to the hole. "I just want to talk." She said in as neutral a ton as possible. After a few painfully drawn out seconds Raven tentatively poked her head around the corner of the hole to peer inwards.

In the darkness was a woman about her age huddled into a fetal position as far back into the hole as she could be. She obscured her face with her filthy hair and a collection of random objects clutched to her chest.

"My name is-" The woman looked up at her with wide emerald eyes gripped with fear. She screamed horsley and lobbed a cracked wine glass at her. It flew inches from her face and shattered on ground. She didn't flinch.

"I'm not doing to hurt you."

The woman shook in terror and began sobbing. Raven turned into the hole and began inching her way towards the woman much to Qrow and the others' protest.

The woman screamed again. "Don't come any closer!" Another wine glass, this one connected with Raven's face. Her aura blocked it, she didn't blink.

The woman froze as she drew closer to her. She screamed again and pulled a knife from her tattered clothing and desperately lunged forward. Raven gently grabbed her wrist and snatched the knife from her hand. Disarmed and helpless, the woman resumed sobbing. The two sat for awhile, Raven letting her cry herself out as the Woman became comfortable with her presence.

"Who are you?" The woman finally asked.

"My name is Raven Branwen, I'm a huntsmen, and I'm going to get you out of here."

"Out?"

"The men who did this to you, they won't hurt you anymore. I promise. My friends and I are going to bring you home."

The woman let out a sob. "Home? Home? There is no Home, not anymore, not after-" Another sob. "This is...home now."

Raven shook her head. "Here, drink some water, you sound thirsty."

She pulled out her own flask, filled with water unlike the alcohol of her brother's, and handed it to her.

After brief hesitation she downed the entire flask with one gulp. Realizing her mistake of over taxing her dry throat, she began coughing violently. Raven reached out her hand and patted her on the back, this first contact she had made with her. She stopped hacking, but Raven kept hand there, patting in a slow rhythm that seemed to sooth the woman.

"You've been here a long time haven't you."

The woman made full eye contact with her for the first time, the brilliant green of her irises clashed with the redness surrounding them and black bags underneath.

"I-yes. It's been, f-f-four years. H-e-e, He m-made me fight other f-faunus. And when I didn't do well, he, he, to survive he, he-" She began sobbing again.

Raven moved closer, slinging her arm around her and tugging her into a loose embrace. "Sssh, it's ok, take your time. I know it's hard but you have to be strong."

The woman nodded. "To survive, so he wouldn't, so that I wouldn't be like them." She weakly gestured to the left, towards to the wall of disturbing trophies. "He said he liked me the most, that he, he wanted me around but I made it hard by loosing, made it hard to want me more than my-my-my trophy."

Raven pulled her ever so slightly closer. "It's ok now, you don't have to do any of that anymore, you can forge your own destiny now."

The woman looked at her bewildered. "My own...destiny?"

Raven nodded. "Your own destiny. There will always be people who will try and steer you towards what they want. People like Vermillion. But you don't need to let him control you now."

The woman shook her head. "H-how can you be so strong? How?"

Raven smiled and fished out her new badge and handed it to her. "Because I'm a huntsmen."

The woman's hands explored the groves of the trinket with awe. "A Huntsmen" she whispered to herself.

Raven patted her on the head. "You can keep that if you want, if it makes you feel more comfortable."

The woman nodded.

"Would you like your knife back too?"

"No, you keep it."

"Really?"

The woman clutched the badge close to her heart and closed her eyes as if she were trying hard to remember something. "My mother always told me that one good gift deserved another, that a kindness is wasted if it's not returned."

"She sounds wise."

"She was."

After a moment of silence Raven shifted away from the woman who inched forward towards her. She held out her hand for the woman to grasp. "I'm going to get you out of here, so please, let's start over; I am Raven Branwen, huntress of beacon and ace of Team STRQ. What is your name?"

The woman turned her new badge around in her hands before clutching it once again to her heart. She opened her eyes wide, no longer with fear but instead determination. Her eyes blinked sideways. "Edna Crimson."

Raven nodded. "Good name."

/

With what remained of Team SSSN in tow, Coco had found her destination. She would go to Vacuo City, meet up with Team RWBY, and somehow manage to bring Raven and her Sentinel army crashing to the ground, easy right? It had to be, at least easier than staying and seeing the worry in Velvet's eyes.

As the four of them, tired, frustrated, and grimmly determined; snuck their way past the patrols of the outer gate and into the forest edge just outside the camp, Coco stole another glance back towards her tent. She couldn't see it obviously, it was nearly on the opposite side of the encampment, obstructed by the dozens of makeshift store houses and other soldier tents.

Neptune grabbed her lightly by the shoulder and turned her towards him, bags black as obsidian weighing down blood-shot eyes. Gods he looked even more draiend than her, what the hell was in that letter Sun left?

He spoke in a hushed tone. "Last chance to back out."

Coco's eyes darted back to look upon the camp one last time but instead got caught on a looming shape in the distance. The carcass of the White Fang outpost casted a long shadow over the whole Sentinel Compound. Naislain and Carbuncle had tried to move the army into its walls, better protected from the weather and grimm and all that. Few had the stomach to do so, the scent of smoke and death and the silenced echos still lingered like background radiation within it's forsaken hallways, eternal marks of what terrors they did there on the horrible night. The troops with stronger stomachs and greater detachment had learned, burned, and buried the bodies of the dead but it didn't make a difference. Empty or not the damned place would always be a mausoleum, one which that little girl latching onto her idol would never escape.

Coco grit her teeth to fortify her mind against the sounds of the refugees' dying screams that threatened to over take her for the hundredth time since she pulled the trigger and changed her life forever.

"I'm ready." She finally whispered, more to herself than the others.

"Great, where are we going again?"

Coco and team SSSN nearly had a collective heart attack. "Who the bloody hell was that!?" Said Scarlet, a little too loudly. He pulled out his knife and pistol while Sage reached for his broadsword.

A shadow a few feet away from them inched forward with hands up.

"Peace, peace, I come in peace my angry loners." He said as he exited the shadows and revealed his stark white eyes.

Coco jaw tightened further, this time in fury rather than pain. "Fox, I swear to whatever god may listen that I will put you six feet under ground if you don't leave right now."

Fox shrugged as usual. "Fine, I'll go, so where are we headed?"

Neptune blinked sluggishly. "We?"

Fox snickered. "Welp if you guys aren't going to point me in a way that won't lead back to my shitty bead in the barracks then I guess I'll pick the path."

He wound his arm up dramatically and pointed through the underbrush of the forest. "Away." He said facetiously before scampering silently off through the tree line.

The four of them waited in silence for a few moments before he poked his head back around the trees. "You were kinda supposed to follow me."

Coco groaned. "Fine let's get whatever you want over with."

Moving to follow her teammate into the darkness, the members of Team SSN exchanged looks of apprehension. "Should we go along?" Asked Sage.

Scarlet scratched his head. "I-I guess? I mean they are our upperclassmen." Neptune shrugged and the three fell in behind them.

Making their way through the tree line, the five eventually emptied out into a small clearing where, to their surprise, they found reinforcements.

Neon flipped from her perch on a small boulder and landed on Fox's shoulders, much to his annoyance. "There's the stragglers, never thought you'd make it."

Flynt chuckled softly as he sauntered over and hefted the brightly colored cat from Fox. Kombu and Slend, weapons at the ready, strode up behind them. Flynt gave her a salute. "Team FNKI at your disposal boss, now where too?"

"Don't forget us!" Said another voice.

Speechless, Coco glanced passed the team from Atlas to see the members of Team ABRN waiting in the wings. Reese Chloris was grinning like an idiot as usual, her excitement barely held in check by her leader, and apparently as of recently her girlfriend, Arslan. Her other teammates, Bolin and Nadir, sat with them on the ground.

"We've been waiting forever for you to show up, so where we going and who's tail do we gotta kick? To set things right?" Said Reese.

Coco fumbled over her words as she tried to process what was happening. At that moment she finally noticed Yatsuhashi leaning up against a nearby tree, a large grin stretched across his typically stoic face.

"Everyone, Yatsu, Fox, but-"

She felt familiar arms wrap around her waist from behind. Her heart quickened as a woman's head pressed against the back of her head, the light touch of rabbit ears rose against her hair. "And where did you think you were going without me?"

It was too much. Coco fell to her knees crying ugly, snotty, wheezy tears poured from her. Velvet kneeled down next to her and pulled her whole body into an embrace. "It's ok, let it out."

"I-I-I-Killed-"

"It's ok."

"I-hav-have to fix it-some-somehow."

"It's ok."

"I-I-hav-"

"To do it alone?"

"..."

"You're such an idiot Coco."

Velvet slowly removed herself from Coco and cupped her reddened face in her hands. The two held each other's gaze for what felt like ages. Eyes exhausted and strained. One from her sins and the other from looking on at the other fall.

"No matter what, no matter what happens I'll always be here for you. I didn't fall in love with you just so you could fall apart on me. I know it's hard but we can get through this, all of it, together."

She weaved her fingers through Coco's and smiled. "Please?"

Coco finally managed to stumble out a single word. "Ok."

The two rose to their feet, hands still clasped firmly together. Fox smirked and slapped Coco on the back. "Well you heard the annoying cat. Where to?"

She glanced back at Team SSN for confirmation. The now trio nodded in approval, the trace of a smile forming beneath Neptune's perpetual frown.

"All Right." She said, a fire sparkling within her once dying eyes.

"Onward, to Vacuo."

/

Ruby came to as her head nearly cracked on the side of a boulder. Her blurry vision made the ground beneath her a soup of vague shapes and desaturated colors. Rope bound her limbs to her side and her legs were clenched tightly in someone's hands. She heard humming, Edna was dragging her.

Ruby closed her eyes, pretending to be unconscious. Gods her eyes felt like they were burning, throbbing to the beat that incessant thumping beneath the earth. She could feel her back unceremoniously bang against the backs of stairs, they were descending deep into the city now, towards the thumping.

"I know you're awake little one, you don't need to fake it because you are really bad at it."

Ruby begrudgingly cracked her eyelids open and let the blinding light of the dark cave stimulate her potentially concussed head. Edna glanced over her shoulder at and met her eyes. She scowled a moment then looked away, resuming her trek through the bowels of the ruins.

"Do you know what this place is child?" She said in a contemplative voice that didn't feel targeted at her captive.

"No, I don't."

Edna sighed then ruefully nodded her head. "No, of course you wouldn't, places like this are kept secret by Ozpin and his inner circle."

She turned the corner and Ruby had to squirm to the side to avoid hitting her head on a stone wall.

Edna didn't seem to notice. "This place was once known as Cisteler an ancient metropolis founded by the first Spring Maiden. It was carved deep into the very earth by the first Wizard's power, one of four eternal fortresses to hold against the evils of Salem's Grimm. A Bastian, an ark for which Humanity, and a few lucky faunus would sail throughout the ages till Salem fell."

She drew her staff and smashed an old pot that lay forgotten on the unkept road. "Let's just say those plans didn't quite work out. While Salem lay trapped in the Remnant's embrace her grimm persisted. Centuries bled to millenia and the newer, weakner maidens forgot their solemn duty in their master's absence. Eventually this city and the others fell to their own strife and folly. Abandoned in favor of the barenaked world above, a world of misery."

She grit her teeth and placed her staff upon her back. Her free hand now drifting to her coat pocket where it began clutching a small object. "They had a perfect world and they just gave it away, probably from fighting the faunus, filthy animals don't know that they lost the deed to this world to us from even before the grimm tried to taken it for themselves."

She glanced back again. "Probably shouldn't have told you that, ah well, it doesn't really matter in the long run. Both humanity and the faunus squandered their chances to rule this world, it's time someone more responsible, it's time for a true visionary to steer this ark."

Ruby squinted. "Salem."

Edna let out a chuckle but quickly swallowed it. "No my dear, a God can own a world but not lead it. I am referring to Raven."

"And she isn't a human?"

"No." Edna replied with a snap as she began to frantically turn the object in her pocket around. "She is so much better."

Edna refused to continue her speech further so Ruby remained silent as she built up her aura slowly but surely. Edna seemed to have no intention of knocking her out again, probably assumed that she could easily subdue her if she needed to, aura or not. She was still underestimating her.

As time went by and Ruby finally had enough of a barrier going that she could no longer feel the bumps in the road she spent her time gazing up at the giant murals at the city's walls. They passed directly underneath the fifth mural. It was of a glistening white doorway swirling with wisps of bluish energy that looked like aura and adorned with massive gemstones of dust. The four maidens kneeled in what looked like a prayer before the wizard, an ethereal mist of magic seemed to rise from their forms and condense as chains that binded four hooded figures in black to the front of the door. Lining the door was a layer of thin black tendrils clawing at its hinges.

Edna glanced at the mural for just a moment. "The seal was never meant to hold." She looked away, contemplation in her eyes.

They eventually came upon the sixth mural. This one was a rainbow of every bright color in existence. A luminous sunset that accented the shattered moon which bared the faintest traces of red clouds and lightning that consumed it during her strange dream nights ago. Standing before it, overlooking a beautiful field with a horde of grimm dispersing with in a variety of directions, were the four maidens bidding farewell to the wizard who carried a walking stick from an old oak tree.

Edna mumbled. "Abandoned his duties, pathetic."

The seventh mural, The maidens sat larger than life on thrones of dust with circlets of fine amber, flowers, gold, and ice. Each one presided over their own section of the mural, their own city; Spring's, Cisteler, was featured far more prominently. Each throne had two men at their base, one on the right a knight in brilliant white armor with eyes mirroring that of the wizard. The Silver-Eyed warriors. To the left lurked a man in a black hood much like the four bound to the white door, this one held am ominous scythe and looked forlornly upwards to the radiance of the maiden queens, a shadow basking at its divine source.

Edna's mumbling continued. "She's better, she is better than all of us even though she is cursed, no, because she is cursed."

Next up was the eighth mural, it was similar to the seventh, though chasms formed between the maidens, the one that weren't Spring were lined with reds, black, and greys while Spring's was even more beautiful than before. Grimm and what looked like faunus bowed in fear before her. The Silver-Eyed warrior was gone and only the hooded man remained, still gazing longingly at his master.

"She will always endure even if others turn their backs."

Lastly came the ninth Mural, a grandiose outline of the Spring maiden towered over the figures of the other three maidens, who were now barely more than colored and vaguely humanoid grimm.

Edna rolled her eyes. "You'll never guess what this mural in the other cities looks like, wait you probably can."

Ruby looked over at the tenth and final mural just barely in sight. It was empty save for its number above it.

"Never got around to making that one, abandoned the city and all that."

Edna took one final turn down an extra long flight of stairs. The thumping from the ground ignited with renewed vigor, they were getting close to its source.

Edna smiled. "Just you wait little Summer Child, Raven is going to forge this world into something beautiful, a real fortress of light that can truly survive eternal darkness by standing WITH it, not against it."

They reached the bottom of the stairs as her smile grew three sizes. Ruby craned her neck to see their destination, the circular pit in the depths of Cisteler was roughly the size of one of their classrooms back at Beacon. A floor lined with carefully carved stone below a shallow pool of crystal clear water so still she wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't reflecting the light at its center.

There in the spring lay a large pedestal constructed of a strange light blue Dust with the appearance of tinted marble. Ruby blinked, it was moving. The whole surface shifted and glowed faintly without so much as a slight waver. She could almost feel the energy condensing in the stagnant air, the amount of aura stored inside of it was incalculable. Sitting atop the pedestal was a throne of crystalline Dust of every kind imaginable all beautifully crafted together. Despite this it seemed mundane compared to what lay beneath it, almost lifeless. It wasn't glowing, it was simply lurking in shadows as if it were waiting for something.

"Finally" Edna said.

Ruby's aura was now at a decent level, she could use her Speed to retreat up the stairs far faster than Edna and loose her in Cisteler's labyrinthine streets. It was now or never. Ruby knew she couldn't break free of Edna's aura enhanced grip easily so she channeled her Aura and her Speed int her upper body. She flung herself from the ground and onto Edna's back with a single violent thrust.

Edna growled in annoyance and fell off balance for just a moment. Ruby pushed her advantage farther and ripped her opponent's staff from her back and threw it into the pool, it's pristine watters shattering loudly as it thumped against the ground beneath it.

Edna reached up to grab her, releasing her grip and giving Ruby another opening. She launched herself from her back and landed with a run upon the stair case. Bolting upwards she reached the top of the stairs and the narrow roads of the underbelly in seconds. Risking running into a dead end for the same of distancing herself from Edna she picked a random direction and gunned it. Yards away she turned another corner and everything went black.

Ruby's eyes fluttered open and she found herself tied to the throne of Dust from the pedestal from below. Edna leaned lazily against her staff, her eyes glowing brightly in the dark, illuminating a mischievous grin.

"Nice try Summer Child, but not good enough."

She waltzed closer towards Ruby, her eyes looking more animalistic by the second. "Now, open the gate."

Ruby grit her teeth "No."

Edna chuckled then repeated her order with the snap of her finger. Suddenly a drowsiness fell over Ruby. Her eyelids drooping but not shutting. Her vision grew fuzzy and the glow of Edna's eyes brightened. "Open it." Another snap.

Ruby's own eyes began to glow silver and her hands clutched at the armrest of the throne. The Dust began to dimly glow and the pedestal brightened.

Ruby struggled but her body wouldn't respond.

Edna rolled her enthralling eyes. "You think you can resist the will of a headmaster? My Hypnosis might not be as impressive as whatever Ivory did to his daughter but it works well enough on someone as weak as you."

Ruby tried to scream but her lips remained locked. Her left hand began to rise and curl till it held it's pointer finger outstretched and began drawing a silver glyph upon it's armrest. She could hear a whispering in the back of her head, coming from the font of auric energy residing in the Pedestal.

"So a Silver Knight has finally returned to the abode of the soul. Hmm, you brought company, how unfortunate."

Ruby pulled hard against her body, her hand hesitated above the half finished glyph before continuing.

Edna shook her head. "Pathetic, you remind me of-" A bolt of lightning struck the pool of water beneath her. Her whole body glowed with blue energy and she shrieked in pain as she fell to the ground.

The Lightning dissipated and Edna's dazed rise to her feet was halted by a flying Mercury who barreled in from stage left and smashed feet first into her chest. Ruby's daze fled from her mind as Yang launched into view to follow up Mercury's assault.

Ren leapt to Ruby's side and began cutting through her bindings. Nora, whose aura was still shining from her projectile, jumped into the group assault against Edna with Jaune and Ciel at her back. All of them had survived the horrors of Cisteler's illusions. A genuine look of concern seemed to leak through Edna's arrogant persona. They could win this.

The ropes fell loose yet Ruby still found herself stuck against the surface of the throne. Ren looked at her with confused worry. "Just go help them, I'll deal with this on my own." She commanded.

Ren nodded and dashed off into the massive melee that splashed through the tight arena. Edna had regained her composure from the surprise attack and was putting her title of headmaster to the test. She swung her enormous w staffith the ease of plastic toy and the precision of a duelist's rapier. Despite contending with six opponents at once she kept their relentless onslaught at bay with a tempest of parries and faints that turned her foes' most conservative of jabs into exploitable openings.

A powerful crack on his skull sent Mercury rolling into the water beneath him, leaving a dent in the hard stone below it. He backed away from the brawl as he pulled himself to his feet, his Aura flashing briefly. A similar smack of her staff swept Nora's legs out from under her and exposed her to a direct and painful hit on her stomach pushing her into the ground with concentrated force.

Ren twirled to the side and went in for a double slash in what he presumed was her blindspot. However, being one of the most skilled huntsman in the world meant that any blindspot she seemed to have was merely another in a long string of endless fake outs. Edna raised her staff from Nora's abdomen and spun it behind her to slap Ren to the side without so much as looking at him.

A recovered Mercury and fired up Yang charged forward with mirrored stances, Merc going low and Yang going high, an attack that left no opening. Edna effortlessly dispatched the two with a wide arc of her weapon. The brawlers pulmeted back into the water. Their Auras flickering like mad.

Edna moved into a new stance lower to the ground and held her weapon horizontally behind her, an old tribal faunus battle stance. One for a predator on the offensive. Edna charged at Ren and Nora who struggled to avoid her attacks while giving up what precious little ground the had. Nora used all her strength in an attempt to block one of her strikes. However they were simply too strong and the pink haired warrior found herself careening into the wall of the chamber. Calm and collected Ren managed to keep his attention away from his beaten friend and focus on keeping himself in fighting condition. Sliding backwards to the rim of the circle he made an opening for Ciel and Jaune.

She anticipated the strategy and went in for her own attack. Jaune's Reflection Semblance activated and a ghostly projection of a shield erupted from his orange and yellow Aura. Edna scowled and used her own Aura to cushion the acceleration of her strike. It still connected and she winced in pain from the effectual recoil.

Ciel roundhouse kicked the Headmaster upside the head causing her to stumble forwards. Edna used this momentum to push Ciel to the side with a swing of her fist but was forced into giving a legitimate opening for Jaune and Ren to take advantage of.

Jaune thrusted his sword towards her gut and Ren slashed at her knees. Her carefully trained Aura was to strong for them to pierce but drained it enough to aggravate her. Careful not to get greedy, the two backed off as Edna regained her footing and allowed Ciel to leap back into her still slightly open guard. Her wristwatch opened up and deployed a bright red dust powered blade. Edna cursed as she barely managed to block it.

Jaune and Ren moved back into to keep up the pressure and forced her back Nora, Merc, and Yang had all recovered themselves and returned to the fight. For the first time since the fiits ginning Ruby's friend's seemed to have the upper hand. However once again the tides began to shift.

"ENOUGH!" Bellowed Edna, slamming the butt of her staff down into the stone below her. The sphere attop her staff lit up with Auric energy and the shockwave blasted the pool of water into the air. The wall of liquid slammed into the gang with enough force to give it the surface tension of a stone wall, knocking them all off their feet.

Scrambling backwards, Nora drew upon what precious little aura she still held and prepared another lighting bolt. Edna's eyes roared to life with an entire spectrum of emerald shadings. She began to hiss like a snake and snapped her fingers rhythmically, each interval releasing a faint pulse of aura into the atmosphere around them. The free aura trailed around Nora nearly invisible. Nora's muscles began to relax as tension left them. The fierce determination in her eyes began to ebb away till finally her head lawled backwards as she entered the same sleep like trance Ruby had fallen under.

Her hands fell into a puddle of water next to her and her lighting shot into the moist droplets falling through the air. The sting of electricity hit everyone in the arena, despite the pain, Edna grinned. She turned towards Ruby, her smile wide as her face could stretch, forked tongue sticking through her pearly white teeth mounted beneath her demonic eyes. It was at this moment Ruby knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that they would lose this fight.

Ren stumbled over towards Nora and desperately tried to wake her from her daze. With ultimately waisted valiance Mercury rushed towards Edna with reckless abandon, leaving all self preservation instincts behind. Edna tried to use her Semblance on him but failed to break through his frenzied disposition. He delivered a kick to her side with all his strength and gaining a flinch from her in response before she swept him to the side, shattering his Aura.

Yang roared with unbridled fury as her own Semblance kicked into its highest gear and she rocketed into one last confrontation with a punch that could fracture diamonds. Edna met her head on with a block of her staff. Even a headmistress didn't have to raw power to stop a freight train like super-Yang and only managed to even the struggle by tapping into her Aura gem once more. Bolting to the side, Edna broke the clash and fell back into her stance. Glowing with power, Yang followed suit. Jaune deployed his own semblance once more and Ciel activated her bizarre tattoos, filling her with the elemental strength of lightning.

Ruby felt completely helpless to stop them. Her entire body was still bonded with the throne of the gate though an immense energy. The voice form before spoke to her again.

"Why have you stopped opening the portal Silver Knight? Have you not come to damn us after all?" The strange primordial amalgamation of voices spoke directly into her mind.

Ruby pulled on her invisible restraints. "Of course not, let me go so I can save my friends!"

Yang's semblance was petering out and Edna toppled her with a quick flurry of jabs that nearly broke the few drops of aura she was left with. Jaune swung hacked and slashed with his sword but only met air as Edna dodged. She smacked him in the head with her staff and pushed him back without triggering his semblance. Ciel pushed forward with surging electricity but Edna kept her distance. Breaking into quick sprints to avoid bolts of lightning and kiting in for small hit here and there that would eventually bring her to her knees.

"SET ME FREE!"

She Voices mumbled as if talking to themselves. "You do not know how to stop it yourself?" Ruby pulled again. "Of course not!"

More muttering. "If we release you from the bond there is no guarantee you or anyone here will survive. Does the young Knight of Silver agree to these terms?" Ruby looked back at the fight.

Edna continued to pound away at Jaune's defenses till he fell to his knees, turtled beneath his own shield. Ciel tried with all her might to force Edna from her friend but offered nothing more than a meager distraction. The figure of grand power that had demanded such attention back in the battle of against Azure was barely more than a fly to Edna, the second strongest huntress in the world.

"It's the only chance I've got."

"Very well Knight of Silver, do try not to die on us."

The bond holding her to the throne burst and a shockwave of energy shot through the ruins of the entire city, shaking the mountain, dropping dozens of large Dust crystals from the high ceiling and sending them crashing into decrepit buildings below with a cascade of explosions.

Jaune and Ciel fell backwards to the ground and Edna barely managed to stay up straight. She looked on at Ruby, her eyes growing wide with fear.

Ruby stumbled forward into the puddles of water, eyes burning and sight fuzzing. The well of power pent up within the portal's surface had infused with her body upon release. Holding her hand upwards she could see a thick Silver aura enshrouding her entire being. The power, she could feel an emotion connected to it, a soul. Trapped under a spell for thousands of years yearning to be used, to fight. It threatened to tear her fragile mortal body to pieces.

Edna grit her teeth and resumed her battle stance yet again, this time with a slight hesitation. "You still think you can-"

Ruby leveled her right hand with Edna's chest and bent the power of the Portal, the power of Remnant itself, to her will. Her eyes shone with the light of pure silver just as they had when she confronted Cinder atop the CCT and Azure on his pillar of ice. With the lightest of taps the power burst forth and a beam of intense Silver energy shot towards her.

Edna held her Staff to block but found herself hopelessly outmatched. Within seconds of struggling against the tidal wave of magic her staff crumbled to dust. She clutched the last fragment of her weapon, the crystal orb of aura that sat atop, in her hands with desperate ferocity. Quickly the orb itself gave way as well, flickering and dying beneath the raw strength of the magic. Edna cursed wildly as the laser hit her body full force, sending her crashing into the arena wall like a cannonball. Ruby forcefully shut off the valve of power and trapped what remained, within her. Edna slumped forward from the crevice in the wall and splashed unceremoniously into the water.

Ruby turned to the portal. The opaque glow from before was fading and the sight of swirling silver vortex beneath it started to become visible. Ruby ran its side and instinctually released the magic from her body and into the portal pedestal. The throne glowed softly for a moment then fell to the dull lifeless form that it had worn for a millenia. The color of the Pedestal thickened back to it's typical green and the vortex underneath was sealed away.

The voices returned again in a mixture of confusion and mild amusement. "So she managed to absorb the power of the spell without blowing up then re-established it before it fully dissipated, my so that one from before wasn't such a fluke after all. Come to think of it you do look alike."

Ruby blinked. "Wait what? You mean my mom? What do you know about my mom!?"

The voices spoke one more time before going silent. "Such a shame though, now she'll die as painfully as her friends. Truly a shame."

The whole city shook as if it were hit by an earthquake. More Dust deposits broke free from the roof of the cavern and barreled down to Cisteler's streets at terminal velocity, each one hitting with an explosion that further rocked the mountain.

"We've got to bail, now!" Commanded Jaune. Nora had come too and pulled herself up with the help of Ren, Yang and Mercury steadied each other and Ciel fell in line with Jaune.

Ruby noticed there were some missing. "Where is-"

Jaune leapt to answer before she finished. "Weiss and Blake got injured, Neo took them back with her to the entrance, now LET'S GO!"

/

Pascal climbed over the cusp of the hill and found home. White Fang Central, cramped in the back corner of the continent between the Mistral's Eastern Claws and the ocean, the old corpse of a Mistralian military base forgotten to time and patched together from it's crumbling ruins with the passion and tenacity of her comrades, was being abandoned once more. Trucks and boats stolen by the White Fang, both military and civilian, were being loaded up with resources that the organization had spent years collecting, Troops poured into them as well, waiting for the orders to flee into the wilderness or sea.

She cursed under her breath. While they had stopped briefly after conquering the first major fort, Naslain and the Sentinel army had resumed their rampage through Anima's backwater in a mad dash for this very location. They would dig out the White Fang from its very roots even if they had to overturn the soil of the entire forest of people surrounding them. But it wouldn't work, they would escape, and the dead they left behind would only allow more seeds to spread, they would strike back they always-gods.

Her left hand rose to cover her mouth. Were those, refugees?

They were, in fact a startling amount of those running like chickens with their heads cut off in the swarm of vaguely controlled chaos. Too many. Those who couldn't join and fight might very well find themselves fleeing on foot like rats desperately scrambling from a sinking ship. She could see so much pain in them even from her perch atop the hill, it would only be a matter of time till some curious Grimm came looking for a snack.

Then she heard him. "I WANT EVERYONE READY TO GO WITHIN THE HOUR! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Frankly she was shocked she hadn't noticed him before. In the center of the confusion stood Bismuth, or at least, the raging tempest of deep blacks and violent reds that swirled around him. To his right stood Adamn, an easily recognizable figure with his bright red hair. He gave the traditional White Fang solute and scurried off to hasten the retreat. The cloud around her high leader only seemed to gradually expand, refugees and soldiers alike looked on in silent fear at the beastial man.

Pascal nodded to herself. "Alright rookie, let's go give the boss a bit of good news."

She glanced over her shoulder at Sun who sat forlornly on a withered stump. Tail passionless swaying back and forth. He stared downwards at his hands, his staff clutched in his right and the badge of his fallen comrade in the other, still stained with the crust of blood.

He let out a massive sigh, as if setting down a burden from his mind. "Ok, let's go."

/

Ruby leapt down from the pedestal and broke into a sprint along side her companions as they made a mad dash for the city's upper levels. Rock and Dust fell from the stone sky like hail the size of cars. One boulder came down dangerously close to Jaune and crushed a what Ruby assumed was once a bakery. A Dust sphere came hurtling towards them like a bomb dropped from a fighter jet. Ciel flashed her tattoo marks and shot a bolt of lighting to intercept. The Dust exploded mid air, nearly deafening the gang but leaving them decidedly non smooshed.

Several painstakingly slow minutes later, they passed where Ruby had fought her illusion and reached the upper plateaus of Cisteler and tragedy struck. With a ancient moan the bottom half of the city collapsed, buildings ripped from their foundations as entire vistas and districts slide downwards towards the depths, like the entire city was on a plate being flipped over and it's contents being emptied into the void. The gang shot through one of the many upper crossroads at the rim of the city as a wide crack formed down the center. Panicked, they scrambled to the far side near the exit just before the rest fell backwards into the abyss, taking the two that hadn't made it across with it.

Ruby would have gotten over the gap if she hadn't stopped to help Mercury woh had stumbled. The floor beneath them gave way and they began to fall. Yang turned to look at them with absolute horror, the two most important people in her life about to be buried in the remains of a city dead. She rushed forward to grab them but was trapped by the waist by Jaune who yanked her back to safety.

Her screams of anguish drifted quickly away from Ruby's ears as they tumbled through the air towards death. She grabbed helpless Mercury by the waist and pulled hard to the left, slamming them into the free falling street besides them. Her aura groaned as she was sandwiched between the boy and the stone but it held thanks to the apparent boost she gained from the Portal. Placing her feet against the vertical pathway she focused her Speeds into her legs to propel her and her passenger upwards to another dislodged rock farther up. Repeating the process with practiced accuracy and frantic quickness she found herself nearing where they had fallen from.

Jaune had thankfully dragged Yang and the others off somewhere safe because that holding too was beginning to fall apart. Ruby lamented the realization that her destination was too far for her to jump and changed directions as best she could. Feeling her Semblance stretched to its limits on her body she slid roughly onto a small plateau at the far upper side of the city that remained sturdy in place lodged in the corner of two rockfaces.

Mercury rolled from Ruby's grasp and onto his side. He was panting even more furious than Ruby had and was clutching his side. She cursed under her breath. Mercury was the only one to have completely lost his Aura shielding during the struggle against Edna and had taken the force of the fall practically unprotected.

"Just leave me, I'll only slow you down!" He wheezed through gritted teeth, his face paling from exhaustion.

Ruby tossed herself onto her side and began rising to her feet. "There is no way in hell that I'm-" Mercury wouldn't let her finish and muster his remaining strength to push her into cover as three green bullets zoomed past them.

Their gunman stumbled from a back alley corner, her hair a matted mess and hands shaking from stress and fatigue as she held her aura together by the seems.

Emerald.

The lifelong thief snarled. "Cinder still needs you. You're coming with me, NOW!"

She shot off another bullet and Ruby duck and rolled to the side. The bullet bore into the side of a wall and dust from the weak rocks above the tiny plateau fluttered downwards.

Ruby bit back a curse. "STOP! You'll bring what little is left down on top of us!"

Emerald shook her head, wild fervor in her eyes. "She'll kill me if I come back empty handed, she'll kill me."

"Then put down the gun and come with us! Mercury, Neo, they've joined us, why won't you?"

She shook her head again with greater force. "Because I'm not an idiot! They left the moment things got hard! They haven't seen-You haven't seen the things she can do, the thing she serves." Her shaking turned to shivers.

"But I will survive, I won't die in a ditch like you guys will, I won't! I will survive, even if I have to play pet and knife to that goddamn devil! I WILL SURVIVE!"

Another bullet, Ruby dodged this one the same. It hit the wall again and a crack formed above. Emerald glanced upwards then stumbled backwards. She barely had any strength left to stand up.

Mercury pulled himself to his feet and Emerald took advantage of his equally weakened state. She yanked him towards her with the chains of her weapon and touched the blade to his throat.

"Come with me or I'll kill him now, he's your friend right? Your little brother in arms? Stand down."

Ruby stepped out from behind her cover and held her hands above her head. "Ok."

Mercury struggled weakly against Emerald's bonds till she pressed the edge of her blades closer to him. "Just run Ruby! Yang and the others need you more than they do me!"

Ruby stepped closer. "We need you too Merc."

Emerald's eyes glared with satisfaction while Merc's looked on in selfless worry. There was no doubt in any corner of Ruby's mind now, Mercury was a changed man, but Emerald...she had changed to.

"Don't do it, remember what I said? You let Neo and I make the hard choices so I'm making one now, LEAVE ME!"

Time seemed to stand still in that collapsing cavern. Emerald gone mad with pleasing her master, Mercury resigned to death on behalf of his, and Ruby with a million thoughts and scenarios raging through her mind. One such thought lead to what her illusion had told her, to what her vile words and temptations had tried to lure her in. Words that would let her forget about what she needed to face within her, words just like the ones Mercury had the kind heart to tell her a few nights prior.

"I'm sorry Mercury" She thought.

"But you couldn't be more wrong."

"You win Emerald." She dropped Crescent Rose to her side and took one more long look into her crazed eyes. "I give up."

Emerald smiled and threw Mercury to the side. He weakly tried to stand up and fight back but fell to his knees instead.

She glanced back at him. "There's an intact staircase to the left where I came from that leads back outside, better save your strength to make it there."

She grabbed Ruby by the arm and raised her weapon to knock her out.

Ruby sighed. "You didn't let me finish."

Emerald looked down at her, puzzled. "What?"

Activating Speed, she bashed Emerald into a wall. She gasped in pain and tried to retaliate but Ruby smashed into her again. The signaling flash of a broken aura spread over her body and she fell to the ground, still conscious.

A small stone stalactite dislodged from the roof and Ruby caught it in her hand before driving it down towards Emerald who caught it by the tip and pushed back.

A tear ran down Ruby's right cheek. "I give up, on you."

Emerald's grip gave way and the rock spear pierced straight through her chest and impaled her onto the stone floor. She tried to scream but her voice cut out as her windpipe was severed. Her body spasmed a moment before falling silent, eyes draining of all life.

"Ruby…" Merc whispered in utter shock.

She didn't leave herself time to feel, she could grieve later. Snatching up Crescent Rose and forcefully grabbing Mercury by the waist she move to escape. The cave shook even more violently, the entire upper portion of the city fell into the pile of total ruin that made up the rest. The ground beneath the began to move, the cracks in the ceiling and around the wall where Ruby had attacked began growing exponentially.

Tapping into the last reserves of her Aura, Ruby flared her Speed as high as it could and darted towards the last staircase and into the normal caverns above the city. She saw the light of the outside filtering in and pushed herself out of the finale vestitures of the city of the dead and into the world of the living.

The entrance caved in behind them with one climactic crash. Her Speed dissipated as her Aura vanished. They toppled to the ground before them, panting, limbs exhausted, they stayed there awhile to catch their breath.

Mercury cough as he cleared his threat to speak. "Why didn't you just leave me? We talked about this, you can't try to save everyone."

"I didn't save everyone." She replied bluntly.

Merc went silent. Ruby forced herself to sit up and playfully tapped him on the head. He groaned and sat up with her.

"You know my sister always used to read me fairy tales." She said.

"What?"

"Just shut up and listen." She sighed heavily. "Like I said she would read me countless stories about heroes saving the day, and those were the foundation of my dreams."

She lay Crescent Rose across her lap and saw with disappointment that a dirt covered surface was all that greeted her. "But you know, if there was one thing I never understood about them was the villains, not the dragons or evil overlords, I got those guys, after all every story needs a bad guy right? The ones that confused me were the ones who tried to redeem themselves."

Merc looked up at her with curious intensity ass she continued in a facetious voice. "The man with a tortured past who sought revenge, at their lowest point the knight in shining armor took pity upon them and showed them the light. Thankful for their second chance, in one last moment of selflessness they sacrifice themselves to save the day and the life of the savior of their soul. Now why do you think they do that?"

"To prove their redemption, to set things right." Mercury said darkly.

Ruby flicked him in the forehead to his annoyance. "No you dumbass, it's because they're cowards."

Merc swallowed a lump in his throat and stared forlornly at his metallic boots as Ruby furthered her reprimand. "I mean seriously! He cause all that trouble, ruin so many lives, are given a chance to do good, and what do they do with it? They throw it away in some honorable chevalier bullshit! Do they honestly think they can fix everything? By going and dying like some fool? They get a free ticket to Valhalla and leave the people who took the chance to save them to undo all the suffering they caused! Doesn't that sound unfair to you?"

Mercury didn't respond.

"In order to ACTUALLY make up for what they did they need to live! They need to live every day, looking their sins in the eye and wrestling them to the ground, rebuilding everything they destroyed brick by brick, life by life, good deed by good deed."

Mercury looked at her, deep contemplation on his face. His eyes were growing red and puffy as if he were about to cry.

Ruby shook her head in lazy resignation as she wiped off the muck from her Scythe with her sleeve and revealed her face staring back at her. Bags sagged beneath her tiered silver eyes seemed to stare beyond the metal and int some far off place that nobody else could see, that nobody would dare follow. The woman staring back at her looked far too old compared to the chipper little girl swallowing cookies after a good night fighting sassy crooks on the streets of how old was she? Sixteen, her Seventeenth Birthday was right around the corner, she'd probably be well passed Eighteen by the time their mission would be complete if they ever completed it. Being a Huntress was a job that stole youth in droves and would give her grey hair before she knew it. But it was a job that Ruby would never abandon. She found a smile rise on her lips one dwarfed compared to her grins of two years prior. A small, simple, unbreakable smile, one born of the simplest of souls and forged hard and true against the worst storms the world could throw at it. The smile of Ruby Rose.

"That is a heavy burden, one that we can never set down."

Mercury blinked away a tear. "We?"

"We're gonna carry that weight for as long as we live to make up for the mistakes we made, to give back, everything we had to destroy. It's going to be heavy but don't you worry."

She averted her eyes from the woman in her Scythe and found the hand she used to end the life of a scared beggar just trying to survive, still coated in blood.

"Because I'm going to be right there, carrying my own, one step at a time."

She returned her gaze to Mercury. "I'm not going to make you my knife like Cinder made Emerald her's. Your my friend, and e're carrying our weights doen the same path. So let's Keep Moving Forward. Together."

Mercury's tears halted at his smile. "Thank you, leader."

Voices echoed nearby. "There they are!"

They turned to see their friends scrambling up the hill to meet them, Neo even managing to carry both an unconscious Weiss and Blake over her shoulders the entire time. Yang headed the pack yelling blubbered obscenities in their direction, arms outstretched for a bare hug.

"She's going to tackle us."

"Yup."

Merc sighed. "And it's gonna hurt?"

"A lot, but we'll carry that weight together as well."

"Ok boss, don't push it too far."

Ruby laughed. "Yeah, ok."

She sat back onto the ground and awaited Yang's loving bodyslam. "Ok."

---

Edna's air was running out by the time she found it in the rubble. "Oh thank god." She said through her cracking voice and welling tears.

She pulled a star shaped trinket from the clutches of Remnant and held it up to the dim light of a single shard of white dust. It was bent, rusted, and the pin on the back had fallen off. It was perfect. She smothered it against her bosom and cried out prayers of thanks to whatever god had given it back to her. Now she could begin worrying about how she was going to die.

She slumped back against what she assumed was the dislodged wall of some random building. A loud earthly groaned resounded in her pocket of air and the rocks that made up her roof seemed to sag. It was all up to fate now which would kill her first, the lack of oxygen or the collapse stone. All up to fate. Edna despised fate.

There was of course one other method of gruesome death available to her. One that had the audacity to act like it was a way out. She plucked her earring from her left ear. It was an unobtrusive mirror like black ball that one might mistake for a marble rather than the product of the darkest magic Remnant had ever known.

Edna released a breath of anxiety as the air continued to thin. "Raven did this, and you can do it too." She whispered reassuringly.

She crushed the bead in her had then threw it upon the discarded clump of Dust. The crystal spasmed and cracked as ear splitting shrieks of pain echoed from it. The Dust went dark and shattered with an explosive burst that nearly tore the unstable ceiling down.

The dust cleared and Edna's whole body went numb with fear. Before her, risen from remains of the black bead, hovered a pulsating red and black portal. From it drifted the sounds of damnation itself. Screams of terror and roars of agony chimed like music notes over the low beat of tortured moans and garbled pleas for mercy from souls damned so long ago that everything they once were was gone, all that remained was a formless torment that persisted through the Epochs. All that remained was Misery.

Any rational person would have slit their throat or toppled the boulders above to crush themselves by now, for no death would ever be as painful as the one that awaited whoever entered. But there were two, two in her entire generation who had touched the doorway of death and had made it out alive, or as alive as they pretended to be. THe Branwen Twins, Reapers of Souls.

She steadied herself and rose to her fate, no, not fate, her Destiny! She circled her thumb around the gnarled metal keepsake. It was her Destiny, and she could always choose her Destiny.

"Raven, I'm coming home."

Edna took one last breath and stepped through the Gate and began her stroll through the depths of hell.

To Be Continued…..in Volume 6 chapter 1: The Daily Grind

Thank you all for being so patient with me these past few months. I'm going to be taking a break till after Christmas to put a buffer between my uploads and my completed writing so I don't have a repeat of the last big break again. Als oso I can begin writing my own Book! It's called "The Moonlight Guard Book 1: The Cage of Light"

If you want to hear more about it or any updates/sneak peaks on what's coming up for RWBY: The Path We Walk, I highly advise you to follow me on Twitter: zireks_writes

See you all next time!