The Seventh Circle

by Obsequium Minaris

[Faunus!Ruby] Ruby was taken from her family at a young age, and indoctrinated into becoming a killer. Now, ten years later, she escapes to Beacon Academy... but is she truly free? Surrounded by remnants of her past and trapped in her own trauma, she must learn to overcome her guilt, lest she be consumed by it.

18. Chapter 18

The Seventh Circle

Chapter 18

---

When Red awoke, it was to an alarm chirping next to her head. She stirred slightly and went to move up, only for someone to gently put an arm on her shoulder and push her back down.

"Relax for a bit longer, sweetie," she heard her father say. "I'll go get you and Yang something from the cafeteria."

The wolf said nothing, simply nodding. Her father stood up and stepped out of the room, leaving just her and the still-sleeping Yang and Uncle Qrow. Looking around, Red found her crutches leaning against the wall a few feet away. Stretching out her leg, she winced when she felt a stinging pain shoot through it. Her stomach and chest similarly still screamed at her whenever she moved, but none of them were as intense as they had been when she had first woken up – if it weren't for the fact that she was distracted by dealing with the arrival of her family, the pain back then would have been debilitating.

A sound from the other side of the room caught her attention, and she watched as Qrow sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Then, to her shock, he pulled a flask out of his back pocket and took a long sip from it.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Qrow paused mid-drink, then slowly pulled the flask away from his lips. "...Sorry, Squirt – didn't realize you were awake."

"Are you drinking?"

Qrow looked like he wanted to say something else, but reluctantly sighed. "...Yeah, I am."

"Why?"

"Same reason why most Huntsmen drink – to forget." He waved her off. "Anyway, I'm not the important one here. Don't worry about me."

Red frowned. "...You all always say that," she muttered. "You're allowed to worry about me, but I'm not allowed to worry about you..."

"Because you're the one who needs it the most."

"I'm not drinking first thing in the morning."

Yang suddenly murmured in her sleep, drawing Red's attention. The wolf looked down at her sister, then back to Qrow.

"Do they know?"

Qrow frowned. "...Yeah. They've tried, but-"

The e-reader chimed, followed shortly after by the door opening. Tai came in, a tray of food balanced in one hand. The sound awoke Yang, who sat up with a wide yawn.

"Oh man, how long was I-" She paused upon seeing her father. "Food!"

"Good morning to you too, Firecracker," Tai said. "Sleep okay?'

"Yeah."

Both of them looked over to Red expectantly. The wolf Faunus shrank under their gaze, but nodded.

"Great," Tai said, setting the tray down. "Eat up, girls."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Yang said, reaching for two plates of eggs and passing one to her sister before beginning to eat. "So, what's the plan?"

"Not sure," Tai said, shrugging. "Figured we'd just stay together as a family for a bit. If you'd like, I could do some one-on-one training with you."

"That'd be nice. I'm not exactly top dog around here like I was back in Signal, so I'll take any opportunity to get better."

"From a big fish in a small pond to the opposite," Qrow mused. "Had the same experience when I left the tribe and came here. What's the talent looking like this year?"

"Pyrrha Nikos, for one."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot she was here. How is she?"

"Second-best in our year."

"Second best? Who's-"

Qrow paused upon noticing that both of his nieces suddenly looked uncomfortable. He glanced over to Red, who flinched under his gaze. He looked over to Tai, and both men sighed.

"I see," Qrow said. Slowly, he looked over to Red. "Kiddo, I think the two of us need to have a talk. Alone. Tai, Yang, do you mind?"

"You want to do it now?" Yang asked.

"No better time, right?"

"...No, guess not. Nah, I don't mind. Dad?"

"Not at all," Tai said. "We'll be right outside, Red. Call us if you need anything."

The wolf nodded mutely, slowly pushing her food away as her father and sister stood up and exited the room, closing the door behind them and leaving just her and her uncle.

"Talk to me, kid," Qrow said, as gently as he could. "What's bothering you?"

Red said nothing. Qrow's mouth tightened, and he stood up, moving to sit beside her.

"Hey," he spoke, "you can tell me anything, you know? Me, your dad, and your sister. We all care about you more than you'll ever know."

Still, Red was silent. Qrow sighed.

"Mind if I start talking, then?" She shook her head. "Okay. Let me start by saying that I know what you're going through."

"...Already said that," Red pointed out.

"I know, but it's worth repeating because it's true. Before my sister and I came to Beacon, we were members of a bandit tribe in Mistral. Both of us were taught how to kill from a young age, and we both started killing around the same age as you. And just like you, we were taught that what we were doing was okay, though for different reasons – the tribe raised us to think that the only people who deserved to live were the strong. If you died, you were weak, and you didn't deserve to survive. The law of the jungle."

He frowned. "It took coming to Beacon and getting put on a team with your mom and dad to teach me how wrong that was. That's one thing you did better than me, by the way – you realized how wrong you were on your own. It took Summer and Tai intervening to break me out of it."

Red blinked, surprised. "...Then why come to Beacon?"

"Because the tribe told me to," Qrow answered. "You see, we had gotten to be such a nuisance that the people who run Mistral decided to start sending Huntsmen after us. They did enough of a number on our tribe that the leader decided to do something about it. Me and Raven – that's my sister – happened to be just the right age for what he had planned. So, he sent us to Beacon. His plan was to have us both train as Huntsmen, that way we would know how to better defend against them."

"You mean-"

"That's right. You came here to get away from it all? Well, I came here because I was told to, because I was supposed to learn how to kill everybody here and pass it on to a band of murderers and thieves." Qrow breathed a sigh of relief. "Thankfully, I met your mother and father, and they snapped me out of that line of thinking. Took a while, but they did it."

"And Raven…?"

At that, he grimaced. "They tried as hard as they could, but it wasn't enough. She ran off shortly after giving birth to Yang – went back to the tribe and took over from the previous leader." He let out a huff. "Good riddance, I say – if she's willing to turn her back on her own daughter like that, she isn't worth keeping around. 'Sides, if she had stayed, your mom and dad wouldn't have gotten together, and you wouldn't be here."

If he had been expecting a reaction to that statement, Red didn't show it. "Why tell me this?"

"To prove a point," Qrow answered. "All this stuff you're going through now? I've been there before. I know how you feel, kiddo. I can help if you let me."

Red looked away. "...I don't deserve-"

"We'll start with that," Qrow interrupted. "I hate to have to resort to tough love, but I'll tell you the same thing Summer told me when I gave her that answer all those years ago: yes, you do deserve help, and saying you don't just hurts the people who care about you."

Red fidgeted uncomfortably, and Qrow sighed. "Red, look at me." Reluctantly, she turned towards him. "I want you to listen carefully," he began. "Whatever you've done, none of it matters to any of us. All we want is for you to feel safe, and happy, and loved."

Hurriedly, Red shook her head. "A-all those people would still be-"

"You don't know that. If Sienna wanted them dead as bad as you think she did, then eventually she would have sent Almost after them. It was just a matter of time. If you hadn't killed them, he would have, and he probably wouldn't have been as clean as you were."

"...B-but, I didn't feel bad about-"

"And you think I did when I was robbing and killing people? Red, when I was doing that stuff, I felt great. Why wouldn't I? I was getting nice things, and everyone in the tribe was singing my praises for it. So what if I had to kill a few people? They were weak, and I was strong. I deserved to live, and they didn't. Those were the rules – the strong lived, and the weak died."

"...That's different," Red protested. "You were doing what you were told was right-"

"You weren't?" Qrow gently asked. "Red, I got to see you when you were just a kid. I know people can change, but there's no way you would have killed those people if you hadn't been taught that it was the right thing to do. So, I'll ask you this: based on what you've heard, who do you think is the most guilty for the people I killed, me or the people who taught me that what I was doing was right?"

Red hesitated. "...T-the people..."

"And is your situation any different?"

At that, she fell silent, as unwilling to answer as she was unable. Qrow sighed, placing one arm around her.

"Kiddo, I know you feel awful, but trust me when I say that it's not your fault."

"Y-you can't-"

"Stop," Qrow said. "It's not your fault."

"But I-"

"It's not your fault. I want to hear you say it."

"...I-it's not my fault..." She whispered.

"Louder. It's not your fault."

"...It's not my fault..."

"Even louder. It's not your fault."

"It's not my-"

She was cut off by a lump in her throat. Swallowing, she turned to look at her uncle, who beckoned for her to continue.

"It's not my fault."

"There you go." He brought up a hand to brush away her tears. "You got that a lot faster than I did, you know? Summer had to spend an hour with me, forcing me to repeat it until I said it with confidence."

"...That can't be it."

"It's not. She forced me and Raven to repeat it over and over when we got up every day, until we started to really believe it."

"...You want me to do the same thing?"

"I do. Every day, when you wake up, I want the first thing you say to be 'It's not my fault'. Can you do that for me?"

Slowly, Red nodded. Qrow grinned, bringing one hand up to ruffle her hair. "Good. That's Summer's advice for you – she always knew best." He chuckled. "Heh. Even as a teenager, she was such a mom."

"...Wish I knew her better," Red muttered.

"Hey, I'd wager that you, Tai, and Yang knew her better than everyone else on Remnant. You got to see the real Summer every day."

"...C-can you tell me about her?"

"Of course, kiddo," Qrow answered with a small smile. "Summer was… she was one-of-a-kind, really. A real hothead, but also the kindest, gentlest soul you would ever meet, with a huge soft spot for children. The happiest day of her life was when she found out she was pregnant with you. I'd known her for years before then, but I'd never seen her so happy – like, I'm talking tears of joy just pouring down her face, crying so hard she couldn't even speak properly. Your dad thought she was hurt or something, he almost rushed her to the hospital before she managed to finally get out that she wasn't injured, she was crying because she was just so happy that she was pregnant with you."

Qrow sighed. "She was my best friend. We spent hours together, hanging out. She was the one who helped me through my depression when Beacon finally broke me out of the tribe's propaganda. I can't think of a more beautiful soul to have ever walked across Remnant."

Red hesitated. "Did you… you know… like her?"

The Huntsman blinked, confused, before his eyes widened in understanding. "I mean… maybe at one point? I don't know. She was definitely cute, but Summer only ever had eyes for Tai, even back then. She was more like the other sister I never had more than anything." He shrugged. "I certainly wasn't bothered when she hooked up with Tai, in any case."

He went to reach for his flask, only to stop himself. He sighed. "She'd be so pissed to see what I've been doing since she died..."

"...Two of us..." Red added.

"No, one of us – the last person to blame you for anything would be her," Qrow admonished. "Just for that, I want you to say it again."

"...Not my fault."

"Louder."

"It's not my fault."

"Good."

Qrow cast a glance back at his flask, causing Red to frown. "Qrow."

"Yeah, kid?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Drink."

He blinked. "Kind of a tall order-"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "You have to stop."

"That's easier said than done, you know."

"So is what you asked of me."

Qrow blinked, then deflated. "...Alright, you have a point," he conceded. "So, what, we make it a trade? I stop being such a wreck, and you stop blaming yourself?" At her nod, he sat up straighter. "You know what? That's a fair trade."

"Good."

Red suddenly lunged for his flask, stealing it from him. Qrow looked like he wanted to fight for it, but quickly stopped himself. Rising to her feet, Red walked over to the bathroom, uncapping the flask as she did so before upending it over the sink, quickly draining its contents. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Qrow wince, but it went ignored.

Shaking the flask to make sure it was completely empty, she rinsed it out with some water before returning to Qrow, handing it to him before taking a seat next to him. The Huntsman looked at his empty flask with a blank expression before shrugging and tossing it over to an empty corner of the room.

"Why do I feel like if Summer was here, she would have done that exact same thing?" he asked aloud. Shaking his head, he turned back to Red. "Anyway, we've still got a bit more to talk about."

"Like what?"

"Your name."

"...Don't want to be Ruby Rose anymore."

"I know, but you have to realize that changing your name won't help anything, especially if you're so convinced that it's your fault anyway." His face tightened. "If nothing else, you should go back to it just to spite your asshole of a mentor."

"...He knew my mom?"

"Unfortunately, yes. There's quite a bit of history between him and Team STRQ, actually. I'd tell you about it, but the less said about him right now, the better. Your dad and I will tell you later, when you're ready to hear it along with the rest of your team."

"...Okay."

"Yeah. So, your name?"

Hesitantly, Red shook her head. Qrow frowned. "Any particular reason why?"

"I just… I don't like being reminded of what I've done."

"Changing your name won't help with that, not when you're constantly reminding yourself of it anyway."

She flinched at that. Qrow's expression softened, and he gently placed one arm around her shoulders.

"Hey," he began, "Like I said, it's not your fault. You have to accept that – there's nothing you could have done to prevent all of this. Changing your name doesn't help with that. If anything, it does the opposite – you're admitting to yourself that you still think it is your fault, which is why you can't go by your old name anymore."

She said nothing in response. Her uncle sighed.

"It's time to end it," he said softly. "Please, go back to calling yourself Ruby. You have no idea how much it hurts all of us for you to still want to go by Red."

He was playing dirty, she knew – holding her family over her like that. It was coming from a place of love, but that didn't make it any more fair. If anything, it did the opposite. Still, she had to admit that he was speaking the truth – if she was truly going to have to stop blaming herself for all of this, then that meant accepting her old name, with all the baggage it came with.

It would take some getting used to, but for the sake of her family, she would do it.

Looking back to her uncle, Red nodded. "Okay," she said softly.

Qrow blinked, surprised, but it lasted for only a second before a relieved smile crossed his face. He pulled her close. "Thanks, Ruby."

It felt odd, hearing her real name spoken by someone who wasn't commanding her to do something. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she wasn't about to tell him that, not when he had worked so hard to convince her to go back to it. She had to admit that he was right – refusing to use her old name had really been hurting her loved ones, now that she thought it.

The two of them stayed like that for a little while before breaking apart. Once they did, Qrow checked his watch. "I think it's about time we let the two of them in, yeah? Yang probably wants to finish her breakfast." He cast a glance over to the half-eaten plate of eggs at Ruby's side. "And you should probably finish yours."
Ruby nodded, pulling the plate back over to her. Qrow, meanwhile, strode over to the door, throwing it open and letting Tai and Yang back in.

"How'd it go?" Tai asked.

Qrow opened his mouth, but Ruby beat him to it.

"...Feeling a bit better," she admitted. "And… I don't want to be Red anymore. I think I want to be Ruby once again."
Both her father and her sister seemed surprised to hear her say that, but it lasted for only a second before they were at her side, big grins on their faces.

"I'm glad," Taiyang said, his voice cracking with emotion. "It's… it's good to have you back, Ruby."

"That's my sister," Yang muttered softly. "Qrow helped, then?"

Ruby nodded. At that, Tai relaxed. "Good. That's good. Maybe the two of you should spend some more time together? Yang and I are going to do some sparring later, and as much as I'd like to have Red involved, there's not much she can do when she's still injured."

Ruby shrugged. "...Could watch."

"Watching is fine," Qrow said.

"Fun for the whole family, it seems," Yang interjected. "I'm gonna kick your ass, Pops. I still owe you for that noogie."

"Remind me again how many times we've sparred and how many times I've won them?" Tai asked, one eyebrow raised.

"...Too many to count?" Yang ventured.

"Exactly."

"This time will be different, though. Right, Ruby?"

Ruby swallowed her mouthful of eggs, then shook her head. Yang gaped, surprised. "What?! Don't take Dad's side!"

"Can't even beat me," Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's Dad! You disappear into rose petals and stuff, he just hits really hard! C'mon, back me up!"

Again, Ruby shook her head, causing her father and uncle to laugh and her sister to pout. A small grin crept across the wolf's face, and this time, she didn't bother to hide it.

Somehow, despite all the drama that had just occurred, smiling now just felt right.

---

"Do you remember what I taught you last time?"

"Keep both eyes open, don't flinch, don't anticipate the recoil, and… uh..."

"Pull the trigger with the crease of your finger rather than the pad. That gun has a heavy double-action trigger pull, so using the crease of your finger makes shooting it easier."

"Right."

"Whenever you're ready, then."

Weiss nodded. Blake stepped back from the firing line, carefully watching her teammate as she leveled her weapon downrange.

Unlike the other guns they had used, this wasn't a rental. Weiss had apparently decided to go and buy a gun of her own, likely because she still hadn't gotten Myrtenaster back from the police yet. At least, that was what she had told Blake. The cat Faunus knew better than to take that at face value, however. The fact that Weiss had also made sure to buy a holster for it told her more than the heiress thought it did.

The gun itself was… unique, for lack of a better term. Expensive, too; typical Schnee tastes, Blake figured. It was a strange-looking six-shot revolver chambered in .44 magnum, though unlike Ruby's magnum, Weiss loaded her pistol with different kinds of elemental Dust bullets, which she kept stored on her belt. The gun itself had the bore situated in the six-o'-clock position; this alone was strange, but whoever had made it had apparently decided that they could make it even stranger and had decided to make it an automatic as well – whenever the gun fired, the entire upper assembly reciprocated backwards, which both rotated the cylinder and cocked the hammer back.

It begged the question of why the manufacturer had even bothered to make it a revolver in the first place, but Blake figured it wasn't her place to judge, especially not when Weiss was already shooting it so well.

Apparently, more carried over from her usage of Myrtenaster than either would have thought. After some basic instruction, the heiress had proven herself to be an adept shot, though this paled in comparison to just how fast she could load the weapon. Even without speed loaders, she was incredibly fast; with speed loaders, she was only a bit slower than Blake was when changing mags with Gambol Shroud.

A shot rang out, snapping Blake out of her shot. It was followed a fraction of a second later by the ringing of steel.

"Hit," Blake called.

Bang!

"Hit."

Bang!

"Hit. You know, you're a natural at this, considering just a little while ago you didn't even know how to use the sights."

Weiss fired another shot, again being rewarded with the ringing of steel. "Well, I had a good teacher."

Bang!

"Hit. That, and you've put, what, almost two thousand rounds downrange in just a few days?"

Bang!

The heiress pulled the trigger one more time, waiting until she heard it click empty before turning back to Blake. She shrugged. "I mean, it's not like we had much else to do." She opened the cylinder and roughly struck the extractor with her palm, dumping the six empty casings on the ground before taking some fresh rounds from the box in front of her and beginning to load them in two at a time.

"Of course, that's not to say that I haven't enjoyed our time together," Weiss added, closing the cylinder shut before taking aim once more. "You've proven to be very good company."

Bang!

Blake rolled her eyes. "Hit. And you can just say you like me, you know – no need to dress it up all fancy."

Weiss smirked. "Okay, how about this – I'm sorry for everything bad I ever said about you."

Bang!

"Hit, and likewise." Blake paused. "...So, does this make us friends now?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't." Bang! "Unless you don't want to?"

A few days ago and Blake wouldn't have ever considered the option. Teammates, sure. Acquaintances, yes. But friends? That simply seemed unfeasible. Hell, she herself had written off the very concept as ridiculous during their first trip to the range together.

Now, though…

Now, Blake wasn't so sure. Weiss had proven herself to be the opposite of every Schnee family stereotype that Blake had ever seen. The heiress was open-minded, having accepted that she was wrong about Faunus. She had even made friends with two of them, even if one of those friendships was now in jeopardy. Even then, Weiss had gone so far as to admit that she didn't hate Red, she was just afraid of her. And given the situation, Blake found that very understandable, much as she wanted to change it.

That settled it, then. There was officially no reason for Blake to say no.

The ravenette sighed softly. "...No, I think I do want to."

"Okay, then." Bang! Bang!

Setting the now-empty weapon on the table, Weiss turned around and offered Blake her hand.

"Friends."

Blake stared at the offered hand. Blinking in disbelief, she shook herself out of it before accepting. "Friends."

The two broke apart, and Weiss breathed deeply. "Well, that's a weight off my chest."

"Yeah." Blake couldn't help but smirk. "A Schnee and a Belladonna… never thought I'd see the day."

The two settled into silence for a moment before Weiss sighed. "...Okay, there's still something I have to ask."

Blake blinked, surprised. Well, if this was what she thought it was, she was more than willing to hear Weiss out on it. Nodding, she motioned for Weiss to continue.

"Those things about the SDC… Are they true?"

Well, that… wasn't what Blake had expected. Even worse, it was potentially just as much of a land mine as what she had expected. Still, she supposed that it was something that had to be discussed sooner or later, so they might as well we get it over with.

"Yes," Blake said, nodding. "It's all true. I've seen the mines and the company towns myself."

Weiss winced, looking down at the floor. She didn't even try to argue, though somehow, this didn't surprise Blake – with how open-minded Weiss had become, it just made sense. Instantly, Blake put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Weiss," she assured. "I know that you would never do that. You're not your father."

"No, it's… I should have realized the truth, you know? It was right in front of my face all this time, and I refused to see it… maybe if I had done something-"

"What could you have done? Your father controls the SDC with an iron fist. There's no way you could have gone against him at all."

Weiss didn't reply. Blake sighed. "Weiss, I know you feel guilty, but it's not your fault in the slightest."

"I'll fix it," Weiss suddenly promised. "I'm the heiress. That means I'll take over some day. When I do take over, I swear I'll do whatever it takes to make things right. And if I'm not heiress, for whatever reason..." She shook her head. "...Then I'll take the SDC down with me. I refuse to let my father take advantage of people like that anymore. If destroying the company is what it takes to help them, then I'll do it."

Blake stared at her, surprised. She honestly wasn't sure how to respond – coming from Weiss, that was a big statement; she was basically promising to throw away her own livelihood to save others. That was a bold thing to say for someone like her. Slowly, Blake felt a smile creep across her face.

"You do what you think you need to, Weiss. I know that whatever it is, you'll be doing the right thing."

Weiss seemed to accept that… but it wasn't over. That was one big thing tackled; there was still one more.

"...Are you ready to talk to her yet, Weiss?"

Weiss seemed to understand immediately, and winced. "...I'm not sure if I'm-"

"Weiss," Blake said softly. "You need to talk to her. Waiting isn't going to help anything, either for you or her."

Weiss was silent. Blake gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"You've told me how you feel about her," Blake spoke. "If that's all still true, then all that's left is to tell her to her face. I know she'll want to hear it, and it's something you need to say."

Weiss hesitated, then sighed. "...You're right," she admitted. "It'll be hard, but..." Another sigh escaped her. "...Could you message her for me? She'll listen to you. Tell her that I want to meet, just the two of us."

"Sure," Blake said, fishing out her scroll.

Typing out a message, her hand hovered over the send button. Pausing, she turned back to Weiss. "I don't think I need to tell you to be careful with how you approach this."

"I'll be gentle," Weiss promised. "For as bad as I feel, she must feel even worse. Trust me when I say that the last thing I want to do is exacerbate things even further." She shook her head. "No… no, this ends today. Send it."

Blake nodded, then pressed the button. Her scroll sent the message off with a chime, leaving the two of them there in silence.

"And now we wait," Blake said.

They didn't have to wait long. A minute later, Blake's scroll chimed again.

"What's it say?" Weiss asked anxiously as her friend read over the message.

"...Beacon's gardens," Blake said. Weiss blinked. "...Something tells me she's already afraid of how this is going to go," Blake added.

Weiss sighed again. "Right…"

She turned back towards the table, emptying the used casings out of her gun before placing it in its holster. Leaving the empty boxes of bullets there, she turned back to Blake.

"Take me to her, please. We're ending this now."

---

Ruby fidgeted nervously from her spot on the bench. Pulling out her scroll, she checked the time, frowning when she noticed that she had only been sitting there for a few minutes. It felt like she had been here for hours.

The anticipation was killing her. She had expected Weiss would want to talk to her, but she didn't think it would be this soon. She probably could have waited – her father and uncle had, in fact, tried to get her to do exactly that – but Yang had convinced her that waiting wouldn't be good for anyone. It was better to just get it over with.

Ruby could see the logic, even if it was terrifying to consider. She had no idea how Weiss would react. Blake's message had seemed civil enough, but the wolf just didn't know.

Out of the corner of her eye, the ex-assassin saw movement. Her heart just about stopped when she recognized them – Blake, pushing Weiss along in her wheelchair. Briefly, she considered running, only to push that thought from her head – again, running would solve nothing, and with her leg still wrapped in bandages, it wasn't like she would be going anywhere fast.

Instead, she resigned herself to whatever was about to happen.

Blake reached her soon enough, stopping a few feet away. Gingerly, she raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey, Red. How's it going?"

Ruby didn't respond. Her gaze drifted to Weiss' hip, where she could see a gun holstered – a revolver of some kind. Weiss had it holstered on her left hip, the grip pointing out and the barrel pointing away from her – Ruby could just make out that the chambers appeared to be empty. The realization was relaxing, if only just. Slowly sighing, she turned to Blake.

"...Hi," she said, timid. "...Not that I'm not happy to see you, but-"

Blake nodded. "Don't worry, I understand. I'll leave you both to it."

With that, the cat Faunus walked off, leaving just the two of them there. Their gazes locked for a moment, and both looked away, unable to make eye contact with the other. After several seconds, Weiss cleared her throat.

"...Could you help me onto the bench? I'd do it myself, but..."

She only needed to ask once. Swallowing her fear, Ruby approached her teammate, gently pulling her to her feet. Weiss winced and bit her lip at the sudden pressure on her legs, but to Ruby's relief, she didn't cry out. Gingerly, Ruby helped her over to the bench, softly lowering her down onto it before taking a seat next to her.

"...Thank you," Weiss said.

Ruby nodded in response, but said nothing. She didn't know what to say.

Weiss, thankfully, realized this and saw fit to take the reins. Clearing her throat, the heiress spoke.

"...I never got to thank you," she began. "For helping me escape the White Fang, that is. You saved my life, you know."

Ruby blinked. "...Had to. Not worth thanking."

"That's not true," Weiss admonished. "You put your life on the line for me. You died, Red. Your heart stopped." The heiress shook her head. "You saved me, Red, even at the cost of your own life. That's a debt I can never repay, but at the very least, I can say thank you."

"...No need to repay," the wolf grunted. "I owe you after what I did. And, you're… more valuable than me. Compared to you, I'm expendable."
Weiss frowned. "Don't say that."

"It's true. I'm not a good person. Never have been."

"Red..."

"You, Blake, Yang, Coco, Jaune… all of you, better than me. Would make the same decision for all of you."

"Stop," Weiss commanded, making Ruby pause. Weiss glared at her. "Don't you realize what you're doing when you say things like that?"

Ruby hesitated. "...What I'm doing?"

"Do you have any idea how much you're hurting your family, your sister, when you say that you're a bad person, or that you don't deserve to live?!"

"...I don't-"

"Stop it," Weiss implored. "Listen to me, Red – you're surrounded by people who care about you, who love you and don't want to see you hurt. When you talk like that, you're hurting them as much as you are yourself."

Again, Ruby blinked. Slowly, she lowered her head as her teammate's words sank in. "...Sorry."

Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "...It's okay." Opening her eyes, she stared at her teammate. "I won't claim to know what's going through your head, but I can take a guess. You don't want to be here, do you?"

Ruby exhaled, then shook her head. Once more, Weiss frowned. "And why is that?"

"...You know why."

Weiss stared at her for a few seconds. Finally, she exhaled softly. "...Okay. Red, there's no need to be worried."

"How can I not be? You have every right to hate me."

"But I don't," Weiss insisted.

Ruby stopped, surprised. Weiss gave her a sympathetic look.

"Red, I know this may be hard for you to accept, but I don't hate you. Not even a little. If anything, you're an even bigger victim than I am in this."

Frantically, Ruby shook her head. "No, I'm-"

"You are," Weiss proclaimed.

Once more, Ruby fell silent. Weiss took the opportunity to move a bit closer. The wolf flinched at the sudden movement, but made no efforts to shy away, much to Weiss' relief.

"Look, do you mind if I just talk for a bit?" the heiress asked. At Ruby's nod, she took a breath, then exhaled.

"...I won't lie, you really hurt me back then," Weiss began. "I had nightmares almost every night for two years because of what you did."

Ruby recoiled like she'd been struck. Weiss looked apologetic, but continued.

"...But after hearing what you had to say, and after thinking about it for a bit, I can't hate you. I could never hate you. You were forced into it – you didn't have a choice. And even then, you still refused to do it. You knew you would be punished for it, yet you still refused."

"...Didn't know how bad it would be," Ruby admitted.

"That doesn't matter. You were turning your back on the people who had essentially raised you, all because you knew what they wanted you to do was wrong."

Ruby grimaced. "...Should have done it sooner. Should have done a lot of things sooner. My fault."

Weiss shook her head. "It's not," she said gently. "I think you know that, too. Rationally, it makes no sense for you to take the blame for it. The only person who blames you is yourself."

"...Uncle made me say it wasn't my fault," Red admitted.

"He's right. Red, it really isn't your fault. I know you feel responsible – that you feel awful, that you think there are things you could have done differently, but there aren't. They made sure of that."

Ruby flinched, then looked away. "...One thing," she said softly. "Could have done one thing differently..."

Weiss frowned. "You mean-"

"Yes."

Ruby tugged at one of her sleeves, pulling it down to cover her wrist a bit more. Weiss stared at her wrist, her frown intensifying. Slowly, she reached for the wolf's sleeve, fighting past the wolf's feeble resistance in order to roll it up. After a moment, she had succeeded in pulling Red's sleeve up past her elbow. Rotating her arm around slightly, Weiss found herself staring at Red's scars once more. Red grimaced, clearly expecting Weiss to admonish her for not trying harder.

The last thing she expected was for Weiss to suddenly pull her into a big hug.

The wolf froze, unsure of how to react. She felt something wet land on her shoulder, and was immediately aware that Weiss was crying.

"Red, please," Weiss said, her voice shaky. "I'm begging you, not as somebody who you hurt but as your friend – pleasedon't ever try to hurt yourself again."

Ruby hesitated. She barely managed to speak over the lump in her throat. "W-Weiss..."

"I don't care how bad you feel," the heiress added. "I don't care how guilty you are, or how much you think you deserve it. I don't ever want you to try hurting yourself again."

"...M-my punishment, for everything I-"

"You are being punished, don't you get it?!" Weiss all but shouted. "You're doing it to yourself right now! If this is about suffering for what you've done, then you already are! It's more than enough, Red!"

She tightened the hug. Ruby swallowed. "...Weiss..."

"You want to make things up to me?" Weiss demanded. "Then I want you to make a promise. Promise me that no matter how bad things get, you'll never try again."

"I can't-"

"You can, and you will," Weiss implored. "I want to be your friend again, Red. More than anything. But that's my price – if you want my forgiveness, then I'm going to make you swear to me, right now, that you're never going to hurt yourself ever again."

Weiss broke the hug enough to stare Ruby right in the eyes. "Please, stop this," she begged.

Red held the gaze for just a moment before looking away. "...Why do you care…?"

"Because you're my friend," Weiss insisted. "I don't care about what you did to me, okay? Now that I know the whole story, none of that is important. All I care about right now is you, and how much pain you're in. You helped me escape from the White Fang, and now I want to help you, and I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen."

The wolf brought one hand up to wipe away some of her unshed tears. "...You shouldn't," she said softly.

"Well, I am. Now, are you going to accept my offer and start being my friend again, or do I need to hug you even tighter?"

Ruby hesitated. "...I won't give up," she said. "I will find Sienna and Almost. Adam, too. And when I do, I'll make them pay."

Weiss frowned. "You have to know that you can't pursue vengeance and also not have your friends and family worry about you," she pointed out.

Ruby said nothing, instead looking away. Weiss gently rested a hand on her arm.

"We all love you," she said softly. "We know that you're hurting, but vengeance isn't the answer. I think you know it, but you just don't want to admit it. Please, don't fall into that trap – you'll never be able to move past this if you dwell on your mentors. For your own sake, let it go."

On a certain level, Ruby did know it. She hadn't considered how much pursuing revenge would hurt the ones she loved, lost in her own hatred for her mentors as she was, but now… now, with Weiss having plainly laid it out for her to see, she had to admit that Weiss was right. If she went after Sienna and Almost, they would all worry about her. And if she never came back…

No. No, she couldn't do that to them. They had already spent ten years without her; she refused to let them go through that pain anymore. And if the cost of making sure they didn't have to was giving up her quest for vengeance, then so be it. It was a small price to pay if it meant keeping them happy.

Again, Ruby paused for a moment before speaking. "...Okay," she admitted. She looked down at her wrist, softly tracing her scars with a finger. "...No more," she said softly.

Weiss immediately brightened. "No more?" she asked, hopeful.

Ruby shook her head. "...I didn't realize how much I was hurting all of you. I'm sorry, and… and I promise I won't try again. And… and I won't go after Sienna and Almost. I want to, but I… I don't want to hurt the people I love anymore… And I can see now that I can't both have vengeance and also avoid hurting all of you. Something has to give, and I choose for it to be my vengeance."

Weiss blinked in surprise. Then, slowly, a grin crept across her face. She lunged forward, pulling Ruby into another hug.

This time, the wolf reciprocated.

"I'm happy to hear that," Weiss said, her voice once again wavering, though now for a much different reason.

Nothing more was said between the two. Instead, they simply sat there, enjoying each other's presence and touch.

Just two friends, reunited after being apart for too long.

It took a moment before another thought crossed Ruby's head.

"Hey, Weiss?"

Without breaking the hug, Weiss replied, "Yes?"

Ruby hesitated, unsure of how exactly to proceed. "You're… been calling me Red this whole time."

"Yes, I have. I thought that was what you wanted?"

"It was, but… but not anymore. I'm Ruby Rose now."

Weiss broke the hug enough to stare at her in surprise. Ruby was unsure how to react, and unsure about what Weiss would do.

But somehow, when Weiss pulled her back into the hug, this time holding her even tighter than before, she wasn't surprised.

---

It was a bit later that the others came back for them. Tai, Qrow, Yang, and Blake all stepped into the garden, stopping right in front of them. Yang smiled widely.

"Weiss," she greeted.

"Good to see you, Yang," Weiss replied.

"Sorry if I was away-"

"I understand, as hard as it was for me. Besides, something good came of it."
"You can be more direct, you know," Blake chimed in.

Weiss giggled. "Okay, then. Blake and I are friends now."

"Geez, it's about time," Yang replied. "You two certainly beat around the bush long enough with your 'just teammates' thing. Still, I'm happy for you." Her attention shifted over to Red. "And you and Red…?"

"Have worked things out," Weiss said, hooking one arm around Red. The wolf blinked in surprise, but didn't try to pull away. "And, more importantly, she's not Red anymore. Now, you can call her Ruby Rose."

Blake seemed surprised to hear that, and looked over to Ruby for confirmation.

"...Team RWBY is back together," Ruby said softly.

A big smile crossed Blake's face, and she nodded in understanding.

Yang pumped her fist in victory. "Yes! ...So, uh, now what?"

Tai stepped forwards. "Now, I think we ought to get these two to the hospital," he said, gesturing to Weiss and Red. "The doctor sent us a message saying most of Ruby's bandages can come off now, and we might as well have them take a look at your friend while we're at it."

Weiss blinked. "...I'm sorry, who are you?"

Tai grinned. "Taiyang Xiao Long. I'm Ruby and Yang's dad." He gestured to Qrow. "Qrow Branwen. Drunk."

Qrow pushed his friend's arm away. "Ex drunk starting today, Tai," he corrected. "Your daughter saw to that."

"Father…?" Weiss questioned, eyeing both Tai and Yang before looking over at Ruby. "Sorry; I know about your family history, but they look very different from you. It's quite surprising, is all."

Tai rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, Ruby takes after her mother a lot more than she takes after me."

"So does Yang, thankfully," Qrow grunted. "Last thing we need is to see more of your ugly-ass face, Tai."

"Oh, you're one to talk." The blonde Huntsman checked his watch. "So, let's get going. I'm sure you both want to get out of those bandages."

"Like you wouldn't believe," Weiss replied. She turned to Yang. "Help me into my wheelchair?"

Yang nodded, picking Weiss up and gently depositing her into the chair. Blake, meanwhile, grabbed Ruby's crutches and passed them over to her, the wolf Faunus nodding gratefully.

"Right," Tai said once they were all ready, "let's go."

---

Ruby breathed a small sigh of relief when she felt the doctor cut away the bandages covering her leg. She took the opportunity to look at the leg itself, looking it over to make sure all was well as the doctor moved on to removing her now-unneeded stitches. They came out after a few seconds, leaving nothing but a scar behind. Against her better judgment, she found herself staring at it.

Ultimately, it should have just been another scar, but it felt like much more than that. This was the first one in a long time that she could honestly say was due to her doing something good. It shouldn't have felt nice to realize that, but it didn't stop a small grin from creeping across her face.

"Hold still," the doctor said, reaching for her eye patch. "Now, there may be some light sensitivity..."

The patch came off, and Ruby was forced to squint at the sudden brightness shining in her eye. After a few seconds to adjust, she slowly opened it, staring out at everyone else. Her father, to her surprise, stared back, stunned. After a moment, he caught himself.

"Sorry. It's just, your eyes… they look just like..."

He didn't say anything else, but he didn't need to. Ruby understood perfectly, both what he was trying to say and why he seemed so apologetic about it.

Luckily, a grunt from beside her kept her from having to comment on it. Turning, she found another doctor cutting away one of Weiss' casts. After a few seconds, the cast came off, freeing her leg. Tentatively, Weiss put some of her weight on it, hissing slightly as she did so.

"It's a bit sore..." she said.

"It will be for a little while," the doctor reassured. "That will go away in a few days. Take your painkillers until they're empty and you should be fine."

"If you say so..."

"Aw, relax, Weiss," Yang cut in. "You'll be back to doing deadlifts in no time."

"Great..." Weiss deadpanned. "If we're going back to that, then I'm making Ruby join us."

"Okay," the wolf said without hesitation.

That left only one. All three of them turned towards Blake, who balked at the sudden attention. She sighed. "...Fine. But I'll complain the entire time I'm lifting."

"I'll take it," Yang proudly declared.

Weiss' second cast came off, freeing her other leg. She tested that one just like the first, again wincing when she put pressure on it. Yang tossed her the bottle of painkillers, and Weiss nodded in thanks before taking two and setting it down.

Tai turned to one of the doctors. "So, we good here?"

"I would say so," the man replied. "Keep an eye on both of them, and if there are any complications, let us know immediately."

"Sure. Thank you both."

Both men nodded before turning and leaving. Now alone, Tai turned back towards the four girls.

"Have a seat," he said.

Yang and Ruby exchanged a confused glance. "Uh, Dad?" Yang asked. "What's going on?"

"The gang's all here," Tai replied. "Qrow and I agreed that we would wait until you were all together to tell you about this."

"It's time we had a talk," Qrow added. He focused on Ruby.

"We've got some things you all need to know about Ruby's mentor."

Ruby scowled. "There's not much to know," she spat. "He's a sadist. He likes hurting people. He hates humanity. What more could there possibly be?"

"A lot more," Tai replied, his voice full of regret. "What do you know about his past, Ruby?"

The wolf shrugged. "Nothing. He never told me anything about that."

Qrow let out a snort. "Yeah, because he probably hates thinking about it… or rather, us."

Ruby and Yang exchanged a glance. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Yang asked.

"Yes," Tai replied. "We all knew him from years ago. He went to school with us."

"At one point, we were all friends," Qrow added.

Ruby stared, surprised. Looking around, she could see that the others were in much the same state – nobody could quite believe what they were hearing.

"Okay," Yang said after a moment's pause. "Tell us everything."

"Guess I'll start," Tai offered. "Anyway, the first thing you need to know is that back then, Faunus had it a lot worse than they do now. People were a lot more open about their racism, and a lot of it was institutional. About the only place that a Faunus could go outside of Menagerie without being bombarded with hatred was Vacuo. Even in Vale, people had a very low tolerance level for them."

"But what about-"

"Summer?" Tai scowled. "Yeah, that was the problem… well, one of them, anyway. The other problem was that our team was completely dysfunctional. We all hated each other."

"Bad combination, obviously," Qrow grunted. "Summer was the leader, and she was stuck trying to wrangle three shitheads who didn't want to be wrangled, and that was on top of the bullshit she had to face every day because of her ears. Poor girl damn near quit Beacon over it. I can't say I blame her – she basically went through an entire month of school with zero friends, a team that didn't like her and wouldn't listen to her, and a constant stream of racist garbage being forced into her head day after day."

"Sounds familiar," Weiss said, looking over at Ruby.

Ruby shook her head. "...Not as bad."

"Thankfully. Good thing Blake was there to help."

"Anyway," Qrow continued, "Summer was having a pretty rough time. She was just about at the end of her rope when she met someone who she could relate to."

Again, Ruby and Yang exchanged a glance. "Don't tell me it was him," Yang said.

"It was," Tai answered. "'Course, back then, he hadn't shown his true colors yet – he was just a second-year with a bit of a temper who liked fighting a little too much."

"Mom and Almost…?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Yeah, if it sounds weird, that's 'cuz it is," Qrow said. "The two were polar opposites in every way, but that didn't stop them from becoming friends. You see, Almost was in roughly the same position as she was – leader of a team that didn't like him, constantly being harassed by people because of his race… it kind of makes sense why they would bond when you think about it in those terms. If nothing else, they understood each other with regards to that."

"So, what happened?" Yang asked, curious.

"That's a bit of a long story," Tai admitted. "I'll give you the short version – he helped keep Summer sane, as weird as that sounds. Kept her from quitting Beacon. Eventually, she managed to get the three of us under control to the point where we didn't want to strangle each other, though it took a lot of work. With time, we even became friends with each other… and with Almost."

"Most students at school didn't want to be seen with someone who was friends with a Faunus," Qrow explained. "We felt bad for him, since outside of Summer, he was alone. Plus, we felt like we owed him, since he helped keep Summer from quitting. So, we started hanging around him. Hoped that maybe we could help him out the same way he helped Summer out."

"Everything went fine until our second year," Tai continued. "One of his teammates was killed during a mission. It wasn't Almost's fault, but as the leader, everyone blamed him for it. Suddenly, all of the bullshit got taken up a notch – it was like the entire school was against him. We tried everything we could to keep him sane, but the stress of losing his teammate coupled with the student body turning against him was too much. Something had to give."

"And it did," Qrow said, his voice somber. "One day, he got cornered by a team of four guys. They were looking for a fight – started off calling him all sorts of names, accusing him of letting his teammate die, the works. Even threw in a few insults towards Summer for good measure. We would have stopped it, but we were all in class. There was nothing we could do."

"Almost snapped. He went absolutely ballistic – took them all on at the same time. It was a bloodbath, on both sides – he was barely standing, and the other guys… well, they weren't. Two of them ended up dying."

"Needless to say, the headmaster had to do something," Tai cut in. "Almost was expelled and arrested. That should have been the end of it… but it wasn't. He broke out of jail a few days later and made his way back here."

"Why'd he do that?" Yang asked.

"Simple," Qrow answered, "He wanted to see Summer."

"Summer was his best friend," Taiyang explained. "He figured he could trust her, that she would go along with whatever he had planned because they were so close. He approached her and told her his plan: the two of them were going to run away to Menagerie. They were going to get away from humanity and live among their own kind, with people who understood them."

"Summer refused, to put it lightly. Not only did she have a team to look over and a dream to pursue, but she wasn't about to go anywhere with him after he had killed people."

"I'm guessing he didn't take it well," Weiss said.

Tai shook his head. "No, he didn't. Summer was the one person he felt like he could trust no matter what, and she had basically just spit in his face. He was pissed, enough to try and choke the life out of her for betraying him. Luckily Raven happened to walk in, otherwise he might have managed to do it."

"The two of them managed to hold him off until help could arrive, but he was able to escape out the window."

"There's no way that was the end of it," Blake interrupted.

Qrow shook his head. "If only we'd been so lucky. Nah, that was far from the end of it. He managed to disappear into Vale and lose himself on the outskirts of the city – back then, those were slums, mostly filled with Faunus. They were sympathetic to him, and even if they weren't, there was no way they were going to tell the police anything."

"From there, everything gets kind of fuzzy. We know he spent the next few years until we graduated stalking Summer, sending her threatening messages and trying to follow her whenever she went into town. But that was just the beginning."

"The White Fang wasn't the only Faunus advocacy group," Tai interjected. "There were others that came before, most of them more militant than the White Fang. From what we understand, Almost jumped around between them, both to survive and to hone his skills."

"Hone his skills for what?" Yang asked.

"Revenge," Qrow stated simply. "It started small – fresh graduates from Beacon disappearing while away on missions. One at a time at first, then partners, then entire teams. All of them just so happened to be people who had harassed him at some point. It was clear what was going on, and it was also clear that if he wasn't stopped, he'd be coming for us."

"So, Ozpin sent you to deal with him?"

Qrow shook his head. "I wish," he growled. "Nah, Ozpin sent a couple of teams and professors to do it. Tracked him to a training camp for one of his little insurgent groups, then sent in his task force. We didn't get the specifics, but Ozpin assured us that Almost had been dealt with – he was cornered on top of a cliff with no aura and covered with injuries, and rather than let himself be killed, he jumped."

"And you believed him?"

Tai shrugged. "Why wouldn't we? Ozpin had never lied to us before. Plus, we visited the site ourselves – no way someone could have survived a fall like that without aura, or so we thought."

"You didn't think to look for a body?"

"After a battle like that? Grimm were crawling all over the place. We figured that even if he had somehow managed to survive the fall, the Grimm would have torn him to shreds. The amount of blood we found on the rocks below seemed to support that theory, too." Tai shrugged. "Plus, after that point, Summer stopped receiving threats. Why wouldn't we assume he was gone?"

Ruby shook her head. "Too easy. He would never be taken out by something like that."

"Unfortunately." Qrow scowled. "We should have known better, but we were just happy that it seemed to have come to an end. No more teams were being hunted down, Summer wasn't being stalked or threatened, and no more terrorists were being trained. Seemed like a win."

"Now we know he was just hiding under-the-radar," Tai added.

"Is that when he really started to hate the SDC?" Weiss asked.

"Honestly, we don't know where that came from," Qrow replied, shaking his head. "I wouldn't be surprised if he started off faking it to fit in better with his little militia groups, and then eventually started buying his own bullshit. Or maybe some SDC director wronged him at some point or something. He's petty and vindictive enough that it wouldn't take much to set him against the Schnee family. But I can tell you that there's nothing personal there that I know of, not that there needs to be for someone like him to hate you."

"There's still one thing I'm wondering," Blake asked, stepping forwards. "Why Ruby? If he hated Summer so much, why take in her daughter?"

"Because he couldn't help himself," Tai growled. "The daughter of the one person he hates the most fell into his lap. Summer was dead by that point, so he couldn't hurt her… but he could still hurt her child. Ruby was the next best thing, and he made sure to enjoy it. There's not a doubt in my mind that he would have eventually tried to kill her at some point, then dumped her corpse on our doorstep."

"The man's a sociopath," Qrow interjected. "He might have been able to keep it under control at first, but once he was kicked out of Beacon and had surrounded himself with like-minded people in those terrorist groups, it just festered. Believe me, pathetic as it is, all he cares about is getting revenge – on Summer, on humanity..."

"...On me," Ruby finished. "He'll come for me eventually."

"We know," Tai said. "But you won't be alone."

The wolf scowled. "You don't know what he's capable of," she warned. "However strong you thought he was when you last saw him, he's leagues stronger now."

"We know," Qrow insisted. "Ozpin told us about how you fight. If he's anything like that, then we have a pretty good idea of what he's been doing ever since leaving school. He's done nothing but study combat, all to try and find ways to counter how Tai and I fight. I'd be surprised if he didn't know the ins and outs of every facet of our styles by this point."

He smirked. "...Well, as best as he can, anyway; Tai's still one of the best unarmed fighters in the world, and I doubt that he knows the intricacies of dealing with a skilled scythe-user."

"I use a scythe," Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah, and you're good at it, but you still have a lot to learn." Qrow's smirk widened. "In fact, I think now would be a good time to start teaching you."

"Same to all of you," Tai said, motioning towards the rest of Team RWBY. "If it were up to me, I'd have you all hang back, but something tells me Almost won't be so courteous to any of you. Yang's a target because she's Ruby's sister and Summer's daughter, Blake's a target because she's ex-Fang, and Weiss… well, I don't think I need to go into specifics. You're all going to have to kick your training into overdrive, and we're going to be the ones to teach you."

Blake and Weiss exchanged a glance.

"I'm probably going to regret asking this, but what did you have in mind?" Blake tentatively asked.

---

Blake stumbled over to the sidelines, gasping for breath. She collapsed in a heap on the ground, her sword falling next to her with a clatter.

"I don't… know how… she does it..." Blake said between gasps of air.

Ruby and Weiss paused in their training to look over to the arena, where Yang and Tai were still in the midst of a spar. It had started out as a two-on-one, but with Blake having been eliminated, it was now just Yang versus her father. The two were pretty evenly matched at this point in time, but Ruby could tell that her dad was pulling his punches – he was refusing to capitalize on obvious holes in Yang's defense, instead pointing them out to her and letting her adjust before resuming the fight. To Ruby, it was a strange way of training – she wasn't used to it being so lenient.

Next to her, Qrow chuckled. "Tai and Yang have been doing this for years, and they both love to exercise. They've both got the endurance to go on for a while."

"It's… insane..."

At that, Qrow shrugged. "You'll get there in time. We've got a few weeks to train for the Vytal Festival, so we'll work on your endurance until then."

"And how… do you plan on… doing that?"

"Running," Ruby interjected. "Take a rest, then get up and do cardio. Intervals."

Blake groaned, but nodded. Ruby could tell she didn't want to do it, but after what they had all been told about Almost, they had all decided to kick their training into overdrive. Anything less, and they would be easy prey for him.

Today was the first day, and was really meant to gauge everyone's strengths and weaknesses. Tai had determined pretty early on that Blake's biggest weaknesses were her reluctance to use her semblance to its fullest potential, as well as her relatively low stamina. Yang, meanwhile, was not used to fighting human opponents in a life-or-death situation, so he was completely overhauling her unarmed style to add more grapples, throws, holds, and escapes in addition to her standard array of boxing techniques. Plus, Taiyang had decided to take a page out of Ruby's handbook and teach her to fight dirty – crotch shots, liver shots, strikes to the kidney and spleen, eye gouging, targeting the throat and back of the head… all were being incorporated into her training.

Yang had been reluctant to learn some of them, but had relaxed when Qrow and Tai had explained that these were all things they would be taught in their fourth year, when it was determined that they were more prepared to deal with the possible ramifications of having killed somebody. Ruby could tell that her three teammates were uncomfortable with the idea of possibly killing someone, but thankfully they had all decided to learn the techniques anyway, just in case.

Of course, this didn't apply to Ruby and Weiss just yet – Ruby's torso still hadn't recovered, and she wanted to wait until Weiss' pain was completely gone before subjecting her to more punishment. Plus, neither of them had their primary weapons on them, so training was going to be futile without them at this point. Instead, Ruby had decided to sit back and allow herself to recover, opting to teach Weiss how to be a better shooter.

"Ready?" Ruby asked, holding a stack of clay pigeons in hand.

Weiss nodded, placing her hand just over her revolver's grip. Ruby counted to three in her head, then threw the first clay.

As fast as she could, Weiss ripped her gun from its holster and fired. She cursed under her breath when the shot went wide, missing the target by inches. Ruby frowned.

"Good try, but you need to be faster," she suggested.

"I know..." Weiss said. "How did you get so fast, anyway?"

Ruby's mouth quirked upwards slightly. "Lots of practice. Hours spent doing nothing but timing myself drawing and aiming my gun, plus hours spent dry firing."

"Is that really what it takes?"

"Yes. You will need to practice your draw as well as dry firing in addition to using live ammo."

"Even for a backup weapon?"

Ruby shrugged. "Until you get your sword back, that's not a backup weapon."

"True…" Weiss holstered her gun. "Okay, show me the proper way to draw."

Ruby nodded, getting closer in order to show her friend the finer points of drawing her weapon when she was interrupted by Weiss' scroll buzzing. Confused, the heiress pulled it out of her pocket, only for her expression to suddenly light up.

"Winter's here!" she said excitedly.

Qrow frowned. "Ah, great… Ice Queen's here."

"Oh, quiet, you vagabond!"

"Vaga-what?"

Weiss turned to Ruby, a big smile on her face. "I'm going to go meet her! Come with me – I want her to meet you!"

Ruby paled. "Is… is that really a good idea? I mean..."

"Ruby, we've been over this," Weiss explained gently. "I don't blame you. You're my friend. Besides, Winter is going to want to meet you eventually."

"Well, let's all go, then," Blake said, having caught her breath.

Ruby hesitated, then nodded. "...If you're all sure."

They all seemed to be, unfortunately. After interrupting Tai and Yang, they all set off.

Ruby did her best not to let her apprehension show as they moved towards the docking bays.

---

"Winter!"

For a moment, Ruby was afraid that Winter was going to maintain her military persona even around her younger sister. She was relieved when Winter suddenly dropped all pretenses of being in the military, instead embracing her sister with a smile.

"It's good to see you, Weiss," she said. She cast a glance over at the rest of them. "And who are-"

Her gaze settled on Ruby, and she instantly froze, her eyes widening in surprise. Ruby blinked, then diverted her gaze, shifting uncomfortably. Qrow frowned, stepping in front of her.

"I trust there's no problem?" he questioned, his voice tense.

Winter hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded. "...Weiss told me about her a few days ago. I just wanted to be sure that she was the one."

"She is," said General Ironwood, stepping out of the ship from behind her, his hands clasped behind his back. "She matches the description."

None of them expected anyone else to come stepping out, which is why they were surprised when someone else did.

Yang blinked, surprised. "Penny?"

Penny waved at them all. "Hello, friends! It is good to see you again!"

Blake glanced over at Penny, then at Ironwood. "...Is there something we're missing?"

"Classified," Ironwood announced, much to her displeasure. "All you need to know is that Penny works for me, and that she's the reason we know who Ruby is."

"I'm sorry," Ruby announced, taking everyone by surprise. "I spent years, hunting down your Specialists and politicians… I was wrong. I understand if you hate me, but-"
Ironwood cut her off by holding up a hand. "I understand," he said, "and given the circumstances, I don't hold it against you. Rest assured, you are not at fault, and I will not be seeking to punish you for anything."

Qrow relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief. "Well, what do you know? The tin man can be reasonable."

"Qrow," Tai said, cutting off both Ironwood and Winter before they could retort. Instead, he approached them both, nodding in greeting towards the General and offering a hand to Winter. "Taiyang Xiao Long. It's nice to meet you."

Winter accepted his hand. "Xiao Long? Then you are Yang's father."

"Ruby's, too."

"Truly? Forgive me if I cannot see the resemblance. Is she-"

"Adopted? No; they're half-sisters. They have different mothers. Yang has my hair color, but aside from that, they both take after their respective mothers more than me."

"Ah, I see."

The two broke the handshake, and Winter turned to Yang. "You are Yang Xiao Long?"

Yang nodded. "Yup, that's me."

"You have my gratitude. From what Weiss has told me, she was having a tough time before you reached out to her."

"I appreciate it, but your thanks isn't needed. Weiss helped me as much as I did her. I'm just glad we're all friends now."

"Indeed." Winter looked to Blake. "And you are Blake Belladonna?"

"Yes, I am," Blake said, clearly unsure about speaking with a Schnee who wasn't Weiss.

Winter nodded. "Yes, you resemble your parents – I often see pictures of them in our reports."

"Nothing bad, I hope."

"On the contrary, anything we see about them has been positive so far. They are some of the few Faunus serving as a voice of reason to try and de-radicalize the White Fang. Both of them are good people."

"...I'm happy to hear that."

Ruby wasn't so sure she was. She sounded relieved, sure, but there was something else in her voice… uncertainty, maybe? Apparently, Yang and Weiss noticed it, too – both were looking at Blake, clearly concerned. Something to talk about later, then.

Finally, Winter looked to Red, who did her best not to shrink beneath her gaze.

"Red Canis."

Ruby nodded, trying not to show how nervous she was.

"Formerly Ruby Rose." Red flinched, but again nodded. Winter frowned. "You caused my sister a lot of pain."

The wolf winced. She saw Weiss and Qrow open their mouths to protest, but Winter beat them to it.

"...But I can see now that whatever I thought about you, I was wrong." The elder Schnee's expression softened. "I am glad you escaped the White Fang, and even more glad that you have made amends with my sister. From what I understand, you even saved her life."

"She did," Weiss said, before Ruby could protest. "And she's not Red anymore, Winter – she's back to being Ruby."

If Winter was surprised, she didn't show it. "I see. In any case, you have my thanks."

Winter offered a hand to her. Ruby stared at it in disbelief for a few seconds before accepting it.

Shaking Winter's hand felt surreal… but at the same time, the wolf felt a weight lift off her shoulders slightly.

After a few seconds, the handshake ended, and General Ironwood stepped forward. He looked over to Tai and Qrow.

"Has Ozpin told you why we're here?"

Qrow nodded. "Yeah, he has. Council wanted you on security." He scoffed. "Can't say I agree with 'em completely, but if the White Fang is planning something, it can't hurt to have you around. Civvies won't like it, though."

"They will grow accustomed to it. The fleet will only be here for a few weeks, anyway."

"Speaking of, where is the fleet?" Tai asked, looking up in the sky and squinting. "I can't see them anywhere."

"They aren't here yet, and won't be for another couple of days," Ironwood announced. "I came ahead of time to coordinate things with Ozpin… and to meet with you and your family, Tai. I owe you all a big apology, especially you, Miss Rose."

"...Me?" Ruby questioned.

Ironwood nodded. "Yes. If it weren't for me following that order all those years ago, your mother might still be alive, and you might have avoided falling into the White Fang's clutches."

"Lemme stop you there, Jimmy," Qrow grunted. "True, you followed a really dumbass order, but as much as I think you're a prick, I don't think anyone here blames you for what happened. There's no way you could have known."

"Regardless, I am apologizing anyway. It's the least I could do."

"You sure?" Tai asked. "You already did a lot for me all those years ago."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ironwood quickly replied.

Tai blinked, then grinned slightly. "Right, of course. Well, if that's the case, you'll have to tell me who to thank for changing my jail time to a ban from entering Atlas instead."

"I'm sure, whoever they are, they would be more than happy to accept your gratitude, probably because they had always thought the Council deserved to face the repercussions of their poor decisions for once and were glad to see it actually happen in their lifetime."

Next to him, Penny frowned. "General Ironwood, what are you talking about?"

He waved her off. "Nothing to worry about, Penny. Just some ancient history between two old men."

"I see." She paused. "...Sir, with all due respect, am I still obligated to fulfill my mission parameters and prime directive, now that Ruby is in my sights?"

Ironwood's response came without even a trace of hesitation.

"As of this moment, Ruby Rose is to be considered an ally."

"I see. Updating parameters to include her under BLUFOR."

At everyone's questioning glance, Ironwood waved them off. "Best not to ask."

"Right..." Yang said. "So, what now?"

"Now, I have a meeting with Ozpin and Glynda," James announced. "But before then, I have a question for Miss Rose."

He turned towards her, and Ruby felt herself shrink under his gaze. He wasn't her enemy, at least not anymore, but that didn't change the fact that he was intimidating to her. She had spent half a decade killing his men, so there had to still be some animosity there on his part.

"I think you might be able to help me," he began.

"...With what?" Ruby asked tentatively.

"I don't know how you feel about the White Fang-"

Red scowled. "I have no loyalty to them. However, if you're asking for intelligence, I'm afraid that I can't help you – I was just their sword, nothing more. I know as much about their plans as you do."

He frowned. "I see. However, I think there's something else you can do to help." At Ruby's questioning glance, he said, "Would you be willing to go public with your story if it meant striking a heavy blow to the White Fang's reputation?"

That… was a good question actually. She honestly wasn't sure how to answer it at first. Ruby looked over to her friends for guidance, only to see that they similarly seemed not to know how to answer that. The only exceptions were her family, who all seemed displeased – no doubt they thought she had been through enough, and didn't want her to relive it.

That was all she needed, then.

"I'm sorry, General. I don't think that's something I'm ready to do at this moment."

To her surprise, Ironwood took it well, simply nodding in response. "I understand, and I don't blame you. However, I have to do whatever it takes to stop the White Fang."

"I know. For what it's worth, I can tell you what the commanders are like."

He nodded. "Please, explain. It would be a big help."

"The leader is Sienna Khan. She's dangerous in that she's convinced that everything she does is for the greater good. There's no crime she won't commit to see her goal realized. The fact that she saw fit to take me in at all is proof enough of that."

"I agree. Is there anything else I should know about her?"

"Besides that? Just that you shouldn't underestimate her. She's a commander first and foremost, but she's had plenty of training and time in the field to put it all into practice. Combined with her ideals, and she won't go down easily."

"I see. And Almost?"

Ruby's scowl deepened. "There's not much to say about him. He's a sadist, and he enjoys the feeling of crushing his enemies underfoot. If the White Fang is a pack of animals, he's the most rabid one of them all – always eager to kill, and with the skills to back it up. Whoever you send in after him, you ought to be prepared to lose most of them, no matter how well-trained you think they are. Even Specialists are easy prey to him."

Ironwood looked disturbed to hear her say that so easily. "Is there any weakness of his that we can exploit?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. I trained with him for ten years – I had time to get to know how he fought. I came close to matching him towards the end because of it, but even then, I never succeeded in getting his aura down to the red. You want my honest advice? When you go after him, you'll need to bring as much air support as you will body bags."

A heavy silence fell over all of them as they tried to comprehend what she had told them. Almost would be a tough opponent for sure; none of them envied whoever James sent in after him. Ruby was just thankful that it wouldn't be her. After all that Almost had put her through, she never wanted to see him again, especially not when she knew her family and friends wouldn't want her to.

That seemed to be the end of it, thankfully. Ironwood turned towards the other adults. "Tai, Qrow, will you be sitting in on the meeting?"

Both men exchanged a glance, then nodded. James unclasped his hands, then motioned for them to lead the way. Winter traded goodbyes with Weiss and began to follow, as did Penny, though she stopped after taking just a few steps after them.

"It is good to see you again, friends," she said with a grin. Turning to Ruby, she added, "And I am glad to consider you an ally, Ruby. I hope we can do fun friend activities in the future, when I am less busy."

Ruby nodded in response. Penny seemed satisfied with this and continued to follow after the General, leaving the four of them alone. Once they were gone, Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. Weiss stepped up to her and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm glad that went well," she said, equally as relieved.

Nobody else had anything to add, but it was clear just from their expressions that they all felt the same way. After a moment, Ruby took a breath.

"...Back to training," she said. "If the General is here, it means they're expecting something to happen. We don't want to be taken by surprise."

None of them even tried to argue.

---

It was later that night, when they were all getting ready for bed, that Weiss was interrupted by yet another scroll call. She didn't even have to check the caller ID to know who it was – he had been calling every day for the past week, no doubt to try and grill her over something trivial. But unlike all the other times in the past when she had accepted the call, Weiss couldn't be bothered – she was tired, her legs ached, and she was still ecstatic about rekindling her friendship with Ruby, making friends with Blake, and getting to see Winter.

Eventually, the scroll stopped ringing. She spared a glance back at it before setting it down, and was about to turn away when a message popped up.

Since you refuse to speak with me, I have no choice but to freeze your accounts until you change your mind.

That was it? That was his big power play to try and get her to speak with him? Compared to what she had been through recently, it was almost laughable in its pettiness.

When put up against what had happened to her at the docks and the White Fang bunker, missing out on her family's money was nothing, especially not when she had her own holdings that he couldn't touch. Hell, she hadn't even used his money in a while – somehow, after making friends with a Faunus, it hadn't felt right to use her father's money. Just about everything she had bought after getting close to Ruby had come from her own private accounts, just as an extra middle finger to her father.

Weiss spared one last look at her scroll before turning away and closing her eyes. Jacques could do what he wanted to her – so long as she had her friends and Winter, it didn't matter.

At this point, they were a better family to her than most of her biological family was.

---

The day had been a busy one for Ozpin. He'd had sessions with several students, as well as a meeting with his inner circle. Then there had been the mission updates from the upperclassmen, though aside from Team CFVY reporting some suspicious Grimm activity in their area, everything seemed to be in order.

Now, the only thing left to do was finish what he had started several days ago.

It was easier said than done, of course – a task like this required a bit of a delicate touch and a measured response.

There was nothing proper about what he was doing, but the least he could do was make sure it was done properly.

Ozpin stared at the file on his computer, his face one of grim acceptance.

Patient file: Canis, Red

Note: Red Canis is an alias; real name is Ruby Rose. She will be referred to by her real name from now on. In addition, physical descriptions have addendums added to reflect her real traits rather than her disguise.

Symptom:

He paused, glancing over to one of the two video files he had open on his other screen. Mouth tightening, he clicked on it.

"Explain something to me," came his voice. "You insist on continuing to refer to yourself as Red Canis, despite having told everyone your true identity. Why is that?"

"...Ruby Rose has too many bad memories associated with her," Ruby replied. "Red is… comparatively mild. At least the people she killed weren't innocent."

"You think of the two identities as separate people."

"No, I know I'm still Ruby Rose. It just makes it easier going through life if I'm not being reminded of that fact whenever someone calls my name."

"Forgive me if I think there's more to it than that."

"No, you're right. I… I hate being reminded of my relation to my mother. It's why I continue to wear my disguise – I don't deserve to carry her name, or to look like her."

"But being reminded of your father or sister does not carry similar feelings."

"I don't share a last name with them, and I look a lot more like my mother than my father. Living as Red is just easier than living as Ruby, that's all there is to it."

Ozpin sighed, skipping ahead in the recording slightly.

"What happened in the White Fang compound, Miss Canis? Surely you did not simply decide to kill those men on a whim."

"No, I… I lost control..."

"You lost control?"

"L-like in the Dust shop. There were other times, too – when I attacked Cardin and Colt's teams, sometimes during Combat Class..."

"What do you mean, you lost control? What happened?"

"...I don't know, I just… Sometimes, when I'm in a fight… I'm not there, I'm back in Atlas, or Mistral, or something… my heart starts to pound, I start to panic, it gets hard to breathe… I can't control what happens next..."

Ozpin closed his eyes, taking a breath before opening them again. He paused the video, then moved over to the patient file.

Symptom: Dissociation. In times of severe stress, patient believes herself to be back on the battlefield. Her fight-or-flight instinct appears to go into overdrive; she becomes incapable of telling what is real and what is not.

Taking a sip of coffee, he moved back over to the video, skipping ahead a bit.

"Tell me more about day-to-day life. What is it like?"

"I'm… I'm not sure I understand the question. What do you want to know?"

"Sorry, allow me to be more specific. In daily life, how would you describe your mental state? Relaxed? Worried?"

"...On-edge. I spent months afraid of the truth coming out, and even now that it's out, I… I'm still worried something will go wrong, you know? Part of me expects everyone to turn on me, to try and attack or even kill me… It's not rational, but..."

Again, he paused to update the patient file.

Symptom: Anxiety. Patient has expressed that she feels persistent worry about her loved ones lashing out at her, even though she knows that this is irrational. Upon examining notes her professors have made about her behavior, all have acknowledged that they have observed patterns of avoidance behavior as well, likely tied to the anxiety – for several weeks, Miss Rose outright avoided her team members, especially Miss Schnee (see paragraph one of background information) and Miss Xiao Long (see paragraph two of background information). In addition, several of her professors have categorized her as somewhat jumpy and easily startled.

Once more, he resumed the video.

"You mentioned nightmares."

"Y-yes, I… I have nightmares about all of it. Sometimes I see myself in the process… other times I see nothing but the people I've killed staring at me. A few times I've seen myself kill my friends, and my family… seen my family tell me how much they hated me..."

"And how often do these nightmares occur?"

Ruby muttered something that the microphone didn't pick up.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"

"Every night… Sometimes they even happen when I'm awake..."

Symptom: Intrusive memories. Patient has nightmares on a daily basis, and has also reported experiencing flashbacks as well. In addition, many of her past mannerisms now make sense in hindsight – her hesitance to be around Miss Schnee and Miss Xiao Long was likely due to the two of them unintentionally causing her severe emotional distress, as they reminded her of past incidents.

Ozpin looked down at his cup of coffee, frowning. There was one more thing left in the video. He didn't want to sit through it, but he knew he had to. As difficult as it made his decision, it was something he needed to do.

"You mentioned back in the hospital that you have considered suicide."

"Not considered. Attempted. Twice. Almost succeeded once."

"And yet you have stated that you will try again in the future."

"...I don't know." Ruby sighed. "...Earlier, I would have. But now? Now, I think that would be… hasty, to say the least."

"Yet you are merely not sure."

"...Not anymore. No, I think I'm ready to live now."

Ozpin paused the video, exhaling sharply as he did. Sure, this session had been from a few days ago, and therefore before her talk with Weiss, but reading between the lines, it was still cause for concern.

Symptom: Negative thoughts; thoughts of suicide. Patient sees herself as worthless. In the past, she has expressed a desire to kill herself, but this seems to have tapered off slightly. Now, she is unsure. The risk of an attempt seems low given that her most recent was one year ago and she has made no further efforts ever since, but the fact that she has tried multiple times in the past and that she is uncertain about whether to try again is cause for intense concern.

Recommendation: Patient should be flagged as suicidal and be placed on temporary watch for the time being.

The headmaster stopped typing long enough to pour himself another cup of coffee from the lukewarm pot sitting on his desk. Taking a big sip, he turned to the next section of the patient file.

Diagnosis.

The earlier parts were difficult, but they were going to be easy compared to this. Still, there was no question in his mind about it – this had to be done.

1. Major depressive disorder. Patient's persistent negative mood, feelings of low self-worth, and constant thoughts of suicide are consistent with the symptoms of this disorder.

2. Anxiety. Patient's apprehensiveness and fear around loved ones, while diminished from what they were, are cause for concern.

Those two were no-brainers. Even among Huntsmen, they weren't exactly cause for any red flags, with the exception of her suicidal tendencies.

The final one, however, was different, enough that he was hesitant to write it down. The stigma it held alone was bad, but what it meant for her as a Huntress was even worse.

3. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Patient's symptoms are all indicative of this disorder.

His description didn't do it justice, and he knew it. But as much as he hated it, that wasn't about to stop him.

Recommendations: Continued and frequent outpatient therapy; medication.

List of recommended medications: Sertraline, 50 milligrams; Prazosin Hydrochloride, 10 milligrams; Risperidone, 1 milligram.

Final assessment:

He paused. He knew what was right for Ruby, but at the same time, he knew it was something he could never do.

If she had truly been Red Canis instead of Ruby Rose, it would have been an easy decision. Even with her immense skill, he could have afforded to lose her. But she was not Red Canis, she was Ruby Rose – Summer Rose's daughter.

More importantly, she was the inheritor of Summer's Eyes.

Whatever his thoughts on the matter were, that sealed it. She was powerful, and with Salem set to begin making her moves, there was no way to avoid it. Ruby Rose was simply too valuable for him to lose.

He would help her, of course, and not just with learning how to use her Eyes. He would make sure to prevent her condition from worsening, and if things got bad, he would immediately pull her back for treatment. She would be given a steady supply of medication, enough for her to live off of for a while if she was stranded during a mission and cut off. Most importantly, he would make sure to have her family keep in contact with her, and to keep Miss Xiao Long safe.

Whatever it took, he would do it. He simply could not allow himself to lose her as an asset.

With that in mind, he turned back to his computer and typed one final observation.

Final assessment: Prognosis is concerning, but ultimately not cause for psychological discharge. With continued outpatient therapy, medication, and familial support, as well as time away from combat, patient is expected to recover.

His work done, Ozpin leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

"I'm sorry, Summer," he whispered.

---

Oz, no, what are you doing?!

Anyway, there's chapter 18. It probably seems like I'm progressing through Red's (now Ruby's) mental problems very rapidly, but there's a reason for that: most of the other plot threads are being dealt with, and I didn't want to keep this one going on and on with not much else happening around it. If you're wondering why that is, it's because pursuing her mental state much further would be of little benefit, not to mention it would be dragging out the end of Part 1… which, ah, is happening like next chapter.

Yeah.

...Probably should have mentioned that earlier, but here we are. My bad, it totally slipped my mind until now. Next chapter is the last one before Part 1 ends and I take a hiatus to get my ducks in a row. Hence why I'm kind of going through her mental problems like this – I want to get to the ending of Part 1 with Ruby in a pretty good mindset, so as to give a satisfying conclusion to those of you not interested in the fight against Salem.

Now, that being said, this isn't the last of her mental problems by a longshot. They'll be coming up again in Part 2, count on it. I'm not going to just act like some kind words, some medication, and some therapy is enough to deal with that. It takes a lot more than that to get over the kind of problems Ruby has, and I intend to have the story reflect that. I want to treat this subject with the respect and the steady hand it deserves. The last thing I want is to trivialize things like depression and PTSD for cheap drama and clout. If you think I'm doing something wrong with my portrayal of them, by all means, call me out on it; I mean no disrespect to anyone suffering from either, and the last thing I want is to Hollywood-ize them for the sake of a story.

Anyway, that aside, she's now back to calling herself Ruby. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about that… but do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass it is trying to remember that whenever I write her name? Seriously, it's unreal just how many times I typed the wrong name out. Thank you, CTRL+F search.

Also, Weiss and Blake are now friends, and Weiss and Ruby are back to being friends again. Hooray, the team is back together!

And finally, some information about Almost. I expect that a lot of you are probably going to think his backstory is petty, edgy, and pathetic, and you're actually right - that's by design. A petty, edgy, and pathetic backstory for a petty, edgy, and pathetic man. He tries to dress it up like it's some noble crusade against racism, but really he just likes to hurt people because he got hurt in the past. Nothing fancy or even noble about it; he's lashing out at the world he hates for some perceived injustice. A big, fancy, and ultimately justified backstory didn't seem to fit the kind of man he is, because I have always intended to write him as a petty, sadistic, revenge-obsessed nutjob who dresses himself up as this crusader for Faunus rights, when really he just wants to hurt people because he got hurt in the past, like a little bitch.

I toyed with giving him a more "complex" backstory involving the Schnee family, and I ended up hating it. It had the right amount of edge, sure, but I wanted a bit more than that for someone like him. He was always intended to be a pathetic man on the inside, so therefore, I gave him a pathetic backstory to match. Seemed to fit much better in my opinion, but let me know what you think.

Besides that, I've got nothing else. See you in two weeks for what should be the final chapter of Part 1.

Next update: Saturday, August 1.