Weiss landed on the cliff at the edge of campus and took a deep breath. Even with her trip back being as event-less as it had been, there was still a lot to think about. Ruby had managed to accomplish something that she'd never heard of before, making one of the gods who were supposed to be in charge of the world appear.

She'd also managed to bring Weiss closer to death then she'd been besides the investigation. Though, this one likely would have been less painful. A technique like that would be invaluable to learn, though Weiss doubted that it would be at all easy. Combat techniques were difficult for her and a large gulf between her and Ruby's skills had just been revealed.

Both Blake and Yang were capable of damaging someone through their Aura. Ruby would be capable of such feats soon enough as well. They were not capable of dealing with the Grimm by themselves yet, which meant that there was something out there which could challenge them. As such, Weiss needed to learn a technique like the one Ruby learned. The only question was, how…

She spared a glance at the moon; it was full tonight.

No. There were already enough uncontrolled variables in play, she wasn't about to add another. If she was going to attempt learning via the same method, then she would do it where there was no chance of anyone observing her. The inner sanctum of the Ice Palace would work well for that over winter break.

Depending on the nature of Ruby's uncle, she might even be able to lord it over him. The man had shifted from a crow to a human body. That meant he either had an incredibly rare Semblance or was a Lunar. There was the possibility that Ruby's real uncle had had his heart eaten and there was a Lunar masquerading as him. But Weiss doubted that considering how he reacted to Ruby leaving.

Ruby…

Weiss pushed the thoughts away. No, now was not the time to worry. Especially considering the remainder of team JNPR was coming out of the medical center.

"Weiss!" Nora called out to her, waving a first aid kit in the air. "Were you hurt too?"

"I'm fine." She'd closed her wounds earlier and, as a result, none of the blood appeared on her skin or clothing. "Are all of you alright?"

"Now we are, but we've gotta be careful, everything's going crazy and it's not just us," Nora shouted as she ran up.

Weiss waited for her and glanced at the rest of the campus. Crazy was a good descriptor of what was happening.

Normally, there would be very few people up at this time of night. That was why she, Blake, and Yang had used the night to speak in secret and lessen Blake's curse. Now, the staff of Beacon was running around in a flurry of action.

When Nora got closer, Weiss asked, "What's happening?"

"I don't know. The three of us were all in bed, when we suddenly started bleeding all over!" Nora shouted and pointed to smudges on her arms and legs. "We couldn't figure out any way to stop it again. AND IT KEPT HAPPENING! So we went to the doctor, but he was worse than useless! He kept doing weird tests on us, that didn't have anything to do with spontaneous bleeding, and when we asked for bandages, kept tearing them by accident. "

"That's worrying." Weiss glanced over to the janitor who was mopping so hard that he was leaving puddles everywhere and making a mess of tiles that had been clean before he arrived. If the doctor had been doing his job that poorly, then team JNPR was lucky they'd left when they had.

"Yeah, and when we went to all of the Hunters who are here for the Anathema, they didn't even respond to us."

And that was worse!

"We need to do something to protect ourselves from whatever those witches did!"

Weiss took a moment to consider what she could do. If she stayed quiet, then she'd be safe, but they would panic more and more until Pyrrha came back. Pyrrha was going to tell her team what happened. Ruby would as well and, assuming Ruby ever came back, there was a lot that Weiss needed to speak with her about.

"Nora, you don't need to worry about that." It was a risk, but it was both the right thing to do to assuage her friend's fears and make later discussions easier. "It wasn't an Anathema that hurt you."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"It may be hard to believe, but it was the goddess Mars. Ruby… called upon her and one of the results of her training was harming those Ruby cared about."

"Who?" Nora and Jaune asked at the same time.

Weiss held her eyes tightly closed.

"Ruby's a friend of ours who's hard to remember," Ren said to them, then turned back to Weiss. "But, that doesn't make sense. How could we be hurt because Ruby cares about us?"

"I don't know." Weiss wished she knew. It would be incredibly helpful. "You'll have to ask her how it works, but when Pyrrha comes back, she can vouch for this happening."

"She was there as well?"

"Yes, we both followed Ruby into the forest, but I doubt she noticed me." A slight lie; Pyrrha had definitely seen Weiss, but hadn't realized what she had been.

"I-" Ren paused, checking with them. Nora shrugged in response. "I'm sorry, but I need to confirm Pyrrha's story before I can accept that. And if it's true..."

"I understand." Weiss nodded. She wouldn't believe this story is anyone else had told it to her. "The entire idea is rather-"

Weiss felt something tugging at the edges of her perception. She grit her teeth and forced herself to notice that which had been hidden.

There was a red glow filtering from between the curtains of her room.

"I need to go." She conjured an angled glyph onto the ground in front of her.

"What?"

She didn't say anything else. She needed to get there before Ruby had the chance to leave.

Weiss launched herself directly at her window. With a flick of her sword and some Dust, she shattered it. She had more than enough money to pay for a replacement.

Weiss landed in the middle of the room, sword still in hand. Ruby was halfway out the door, holding a packed bag. She hadn't changed her clothes at all, their dark colors concealing how much she'd bled.

For the first time since her Exaltation, Weiss was at a complete loss for words. What could she say to someone whose goddess had literally told them they were wrong about everything? What could she say in the last time she might see Ruby?

"You-" Weiss started slowly. "You're leaving."

"Yeah," Ruby responded without turning around.

"I can't exactly blame you for that, but…" Weiss paused and licked her lips. Ruby was going to go work directly with the gods. That was what she was meant to do according to Tialeth. "Will we ever see you again? Not just me. Blake and Yang too. I'll pass whatever message you want to them if I have the chance."

Ruby slowly turned to Weiss. Madness danced within her eyes.

"Ruby, what happened to you?"


Ruby had no idea what to expect when she followed Mars through the portal, but she wasn't prepared for what she found. The air was crisp and sweet, the colors more full than she'd been used to, and the fog that had always plagued her senses was gone. It was like taking her first real gulp of air after being forced to breath through a straw for her entire life.

They appeared in a deceptively simple room. It looked like an old-style training room with the flat wooden floor, benches on the sides, and every basic melee weapon Ruby knew of.

Despite all of that, the strangest thing was that the air within it hummed like an active machine shop, as did every other object that Ruby listened to. The weapons were entirely made out of Aura conductive materials and had very fine inscriptions etched into every face. But they paled in comparison to the floor. Lessons were carved into the boards. Some were poems, some diagrams, and some manuals. Or so it seemed.

All of them were written in that beautiful language which she'd been given understanding of, the language of the gods. The script was much denser than any other Ruby'd ever seen, allowing more information than should be possible to be written. Actually… no it wasn't possible. As she stared, additional layers revealed themselves, hidden underneath the first. No matter how much she peered into the well, more came forth.

"Come," Mars commanded, striding towards the large doors at the entrance.

Ruby wanted to object, but followed along instead. She'd ask about their forging later.

With a wave of the goddess's hand, the doors opened to reveal an enormous office with a wolf-man waiting for them. Not a wolf faunus, a full blown wolf man with dog head and everything. His robes were simple, but very well made and he had a curved sword on his belt.

"Lady Mars." He bowed so deeply that his back was almost parallel with the floor. "I most humbly request a moment of your time."

"You have until we reach the upper level," she replied briskly and continued walking past him. "Speak quickly or do not speak."

"Of course." The man kept pace and pulled several scrolls from his sleeves. "There are several petitions that require immediate attention."

She took the first one, opened it, and scanned it while walking. Her Aura pulsed right before she said, "Denied."

He had the next ready for her and accepted the first back. While she read the second, he marked the first. Then the process continued. Each time she used Aura before making the decision.

"Approved. Denied. Approved, provided she uses her own funds. Approved pending Saturn's approval. Denied. Sub sections one A and three B are approved, the rest denied." Mars made quick work of every one of them. It was all super dense legal mumbo-jumbo that Ruby wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails of even if she had known what the Crimson Panoply of Victory or Violet Bier of Sorrows were.

It did give her some time to look at the rest of the building they were in. No matter what she examined, it was as detailed as those floor boards had been. From the paintings on the walls to the small statues on tables, everything had little carvings on them. Ruby could've done the metalwork herself in a matter of hours, but they'd been walking for several minutes already and still going over scrolls. It would have taken weeks just to do the hallway, let alone whatever was in all of the other rooms.

After going through more scrolls than should fit in the wolf-man's sleeves, Mars said, "Is there anything else that I should know about?"

"You received three visitors," he continued. "I turned two of them away as instructed, but Her Most Spirited-"

"Don't worry about all that, you're not in trouble." A blonde woman appeared right next to them. She was about a head taller than Ruby and had a very worn dress on. The edges were slightly frayed and dusty, like she'd just gone on a long run. Her eyes though, they were just like Mars', except a piercing yellow instead of red.

"Any issue regarding my subordinate's actions is for me to decide, sister." Mars briefly scowled at the woman. "Min Da, you are not in any trouble."

Min Da bowed again and muttered his thanks.

"See that each of those proposals is delivered," Mars continued. "You are dismissed."

"Of course, my Lady." He bowed very deeply to each of them in turn. "Lady Mercury. Lady Shieldbearer."

"Min Da, if she is not within Yu Shan tomorrow, then you never saw her." Mars spoke with a cold edge, just like when she used the attack that would've killed Ruby. It sent a shiver down her spine.

"Understood, my Lady." The only way Ruby could have know that he was worried was how his ears flattened out, just like Blake's. His tail was wagging a little as he walked away though. Maybe it meant he was happy?

"Gah!" Ruby jumped back when a scroll was shoved in front of her face.

"What do you think of this?" the new woman asked with what Ruby would normally call mischief dancing in her eyes, but that felt like the wrong word right now.

"Sister, what exactly are you asking of my Shieldbearer?" Mars said with a slight smile.

"Just a pique of curiosity regarding a project one of mine is almost finished with."

"Hmm." Mars nodded. "Well then, Ruby Rose, kindly indulge my dearest sister, Mercury."

Ruby couldn't help feeling that there was something else going on that she wasn't picking up on, just like with some of Blake and Weiss' debates. She was this tiny mouse stuck between two literal goddesses who she just met.

"Well…" Ruby started, trying to expand the scroll. When that failed, she just leaned closer to read the tiny print. "It looks like a large, rapid-response airship. Nothing else would need an engine that big."

When neither responded, Ruby continued. "The only weird thing is, I can't see any weapons or hard points to mount them."

"She really is one of yours, through and through." Mercury sighed and took the weird scroll away. "You can't see them because there aren't any. It's an exploratory vessel, not military."

"What? Why? It would get destroyed as soon as a Nevermore showed up!"

"You don't have any of those nasty beasts in space."

Ruby hesitated for a moment. That was a spaceship? "But… How? You can't use Dust in space. Where does the power come from?"

"Bound elementals, prayer, and a team of sorcerers continuously casting," the goddess replied, way too chipper for someone who was supposed to be in charge of parts of everything. "Not that you'd know about those just yet. I'm sure you'll pick them up just as quickly as he did, you two are from the same world after all."

"What?"

"It was a slightly more than a century ago when his fellow Harbingers found him," Mars said as Mercury opened her mouth. "The corruption of your world makes tracking anyone on it difficult."

"Someone's been here this entire time." Ruby's heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat. "You said I could deal with the Grimm by myself in two hundred… Sooner if I had help."

"That you could."

Her vision narrowed until all she could perceive was the scroll. "So what has he done to help us? He's halfway there and what the hell has he done?"

"As we speak, he's sending dreams of the schematics and operation to the mortals who will construct the first ship." Mercury leaned against the wall, right next to the first window Ruby had seen.

"Where?" Ruby snapped.

"Quite far away from here. For you, it would take several weeks, even if you knew the route to use."

"You could bring us there right now."

"I could."

"But, you're not going to."

"No, I'm not." The energy and joy was still there, but her smile had vanished. "You would interfere with him performing his duties."

"He abandoned us!"

"And so could you. There are many wonders to explore just outside of this building." She spun, traveling to the other side of the window.

Ruby didn't follow the entirety of the movement, her eyes becoming stuck on the city outside. It was beyond anything she'd ever imagined.

It was a city like no other, whose massive buildings extended as far as she could see, and that was very far. The air was clearer here, the fog that eventually turned everything blue was gone. There were miles upon miles of buildings. Millions lived in downtown Vale. How many were here? Tens of millions? Hundreds? If someone told her there were a billion, she would've believed them.

The streets below them were filled with all sorts of creatures. Most looked vaguely human, like Min Da had been, but some were creatures out of a fairy tale, including actual dragons flying through the skies.

"The divine city, Yu Shan." Mars stepped next to her. "It is the place where you will work for the remainder of your life, alongside the gods that manage every aspect of all worlds."

Ruby's nails dug into her palms hard enough to draw blood. There was so much wasted wealth in front of her that she couldn't believe it. There were so many people here that they surely would have been able to fight back against the Grimm, if any of them cared. The fire in her blood burned so hot it turned cold.

There was something wrong with this city, there was something wrong with Remnant, and there was something wrong with her.

Complacency, that was the word to describe it. A willingness to accept what was there and not fight for something better. Sure, she'd argued and planned to make them change, but she'd never really done anything about what was really wrong.

"You shouldn't be too angry." Mercury smiled when Ruby looked over to her. "There's now a design for a ship that can survive interstellar travel which can be constructed and run purely through mortal hands. It may take time, but there is no reason why the people of your world would need to continue living in danger."

It would take time, time she didn't have. Waiting like that would also be playing into the system, even if she didn't understand it yet.

"But, I've taken enough of your time." Mercury opened the window and stepped up on the edge. "By the way, Mars, your next turn is swiftly approaching."

As soon as the words left her lips, she was off. Mercury flipped out of the window and ran along the side of the building in complete defiance for how gravity was supposed to work.

Normally, Ruby would have listened to the effect. Instead, she was looking at possible futures.

"You may choose to stay here right now, partake in the wonder and majesty of Yu Shan while you complete your training." Mars laid a hand on the windowsill. "It will take several years to complete and once it is finished, you will have a large amount of responsibility."

"What if I don't want that?"

"Then your fellow Shieldbearers will attempt to convince you otherwise. If you continued to refuse after that, you will be hunted."

Ruby grit her teeth. "So I'd be declared Anathema and killed."

"By shirking your duties, you would harm billions of souls." Mars' voice was cold again. "There is always more work to do and every set of missing hands means that some issues will need to be ignored."

"Like saving my world from the Grimm."

"The Harbinger from your world had petitioned for assistance when he joined, the resources were deemed better spent elsewhere."

"So he stopped trying, left us to die."

"He did what he could and has succeeded at a project which will not require direct intervention to be beneficial."

"He's a coward." Ruby glanced at the gods walking beneath them with a feeling of disgust. They were casually using Aura conductive metal for jewelry. "He should have destroyed the Grimm himself. There're enough people here to form a team like mine."

"Each of our Sidereals, the proper name for the Chosen, has their own role to play. Yours is to be a warrior, a general, a Huntress. As part of your office, you would bring conflict to where it needs to be. There are arguments that you, as a Shieldbearer, could make which would be ignored if they came from a Harbinger's desk."

"A while ago, someone else told me something similar. I didn't like the answer then, so why would I now?" Ruby thought back to how defeated Professor Goodwitch had sounded after Weiss' investigation.

"Because heroism is not a single grand victory. It is not a chosen enemy which once it is slain, all is right with the world. It is a thousand insignificant actions that allow the lives of all to continue living. Were you to destroy the creatures that plague your world today, there would still be work to do." Mars spoke softly, but the cold fire continued to burn with Ruby. "There is no lasting victory, no lasting peace. In time, all infrastructure will decay and need to be repaired. If it is left for too long, then it will break and all that is will be lessened as a result."

"You left my world to rot and break."

"It is not yet broken, nor is it maintained. A deep rot has set in which can still be cleansed. The fat suffocating those who would help can be cut."

"But it's not worth it." Ruby considered that for a moment and continued trying to find the right future. Now that she knew she had to take her own thoughts and worries into consideration, it was a lot harder.

She waited and watched for quite some time. Mars had said they were in a hurry, but now they weren't. What was her goal here? Ruby had no idea. She obviously wanted Ruby to come here, finish her training, and get to work. But, if that was the case, why was she being given a choice in the matter?

"You said that it isn't being maintained… does anyone care about what happens?"

"Many care about those deemed Anathema being destroyed before they can threaten the fabric of reality once more."

"And you're not going to tell me what you think about that?"

"No."

Ruby considered her options again. "You already know what I'm going to do, don't you?"

"Yes."

Ruby glared at the goddess. Was this what talking to herself was like when she was looking into the future?

"And you're okay with it?"

"Yes, you shall bring conflict to where it needs to be."