A/N: Welcome back everyone! I've got another fresh set of TFTA submissions loaded up in the chamber, since I managed to brib- ah... persuade the writers with another contest. We got a pretty solid turnout, so I've got material that'll last for a few months (assuming I remember to actually post these things once per week...). We decided to go with a theme this time around, and the one that was agreed upon was "coping with Gatecrasher and Warsaw." A lot of the entries focus on characters who weren't able to get screen time at the end of RU, which is something I'm excited about.

First up is the contest winner, written by the wonderful Joey. Enjoy!

Title: A Thousand Shades of Loss

Author: Joey245

Gods damn it.

Gods damn it.

Gods fucking damn it.

Ilia Amitola rarely cursed, even in her own mind. Sarcasm and wit were her preferred means of expressing dissatisfaction. And yet an endless stream of swears that would make a hardened sailor blush ran through her head, as she swung a bladed whip again and again in the darkened training hall.

She could feel her cheeks heat up and her arm cry out in protest to the constant movement. If she had a mirror, she could see her freckled skin taking on a violent red hue, with her spots almost glowing white-hot with rage. Glimpses of her ponytail as it swung into her vision told her that her hair was a scorching yellow, and her eyes...Ilia didn't want to think about what color her eyes might be right now. She tried so hard to separate her emotional state from her Faunus trait, but not this time. She was angry, and she didn't care how much it showed.

Lightning Lash crackled with sparks as the sole member of the Amitola family struck the target dummy over and over again, leaving sizzling gashes in the ballistic gel with each slice and swing. If the dummy was a person, it would have died forty lashes ago. A creature of Grimm? A hundred lashes ago. An ADVENT Officer with heavy armor and a stun baton? By now it would be on the floor with shredded plating and punctured organs, bleeding and breaking and begging for mercy.

Unfortunately, mercy was something Ilia didn't have much of right now.

She knew she needed to talk to somebody about this rage. It would tear her apart from the inside if left unchecked. But who was she supposed to talk to? All the people she trusted the most were either unavailable at best or straight-up dead at worst. Hogarth? Left himself open for a clean headshot after taking a shot at that Cinder bitch. Beagle? Strapped himself with bombs and blew himself sky high as a final middle finger to Merlot and ADVENT. Grayson? Stuck in medical yet again after trying to take on one of those mutated Beowolves with nothing more than that dinky little knife of hers. And Blake?

Blake…

Blake couldn't help her. Not while she still felt guilty about abandoning the Captain just before he suicide bombed the shit out of Merlot.

So Ilia was on her own.

As fucking usual.

And since official XCOM doctrine advised against the breaking of other soldiers' teeth, this was just about the only outlet she had.

With an almost feral scream, Ilia swung Lightning Lash again, though this time she retracted the bladed whip at the end of the swing. Collapsing her weapon back into a proper sword, she charged at the dummy, slicing and slashing again and again until the surface tension finally broke, until the bits of gel flew into her hair, until the sweat mixed with the tears and seeped into her eyes and stung and blinded her. And yet she still didn't stop until the sword flew out of her hands, and even then she kept pounding the mangled dummy with her fists until finally, after half a minute of her relentless assault, she fell to her knees, sobbing and heaving and choking on her own misery and rage.

It didn't make her feel any better.

It never did.

"...those aren't easy to replace, you know."

Ilia looked over her shoulder as she wiped her eyes, her night vision picking up the sight of a small woman with a large cape turning the lights on. The young woman looked disheveled, like she hadn't been sleeping well, but she still tried to give a sincere smile at the young Amitola.

"C-captain Rose," she sputtered, turning and standing up to salute.

Ruby waved her off. "Come on...it's too early for that. Besides, you're Blake's friend, you can just call me Ruby. Remember?"

Ilia sighed, moving to pick up Lightning Lash as she kept an eye on the young Captain. The silver-eyed Huntress (or perhaps gray-eyed would be more appropriate) moved over to a weapons locker, pulling out an armful of rifles. She set them all in a row on a little foldout table, humming thoughtfully as she looked them over. Not wanting to interrupt Ruby, Ilia simply moved over to another training dummy, extending her weapon back into whip form with a flick of her wrist.

"...are you going to destroy that one too?"

The young Amitola looked back to see Ruby staring at her from behind her table.

"...maybe I am. What's it to you?"

"I'd rather you not. Like I said, they're expensive."

Ilia scowled. "Well what else am I supposed to practice on?"

Ruby hummed, then grabbed a training sword from the weapons locker.

"...how about me?"

"...what."

The silver-eyed Huntress stepped towards Ilia, twirling the sword in her hands. "You and me, let's spar. My swordsmanship could use a little work, and frankly, you look like you could use a partner that can actually hit back."

Ilia rolled her eyes, then huffed. "Fine. But don't expect me to go easy on you just cause you're tiny and cute."

"If I had a Lien for every time I've heard that…" said Ruby with a soft chuckle. Then she held her sword at the ready. "First move is yours."

For a brief moment, neither of the young women moved. Then Ilia exploded in a flash of motion, spinning on the spot and twirling her weapon around her as she lashed out with a series of electrified whip strikes. Ruby deflected each attack with perfect timing and precision, then darted forward in a burst of rose petals. The faunus's agility helped her evade the forward thrust, snapping Lightning Lash back into a sword just in time to block a followup slash from the young Captain. The sounds of clashing blades and grunts of exertion echoed throughout the hall, as steel struck steel again and again.

Ilia's Aura, a kaleidoscopic mix of every color under the sun, took a few small nicks here and there, but she still prided herself on seeing a flash of red energy as she snuck a blow or two past Ruby's defenses. Still, ripples of Auric energy spread across her own body far more often than it did across Ruby's, as the Captain got more and more good solid hits in.

"Not bad!" Ruby had a tense smile on her face as her training sword locked blades with Lightning Lash.

"Same to you," said Ilia with a smirk. "I can see why Blake talks about you all the time."

"...she does?"

Ilia's only answer was a wider smirk as she flicked a switch on Lightning Lash, retracting the blade back into the handle and leaving Ruby pushing against empty air. As the Captain started to fall forward, the faunus girl flipped the switch again and pulled the trigger, extending her weapon back to its full length and swinging it around herself. Ruby just barely managed to dodge the crack of the whip in a burst of petals, moving back to try to regain some breathing room but just giving Ilia more range to swing the bladed weapon around the battlefield.

"Never seen a weapon expand and retract that fast!" Ruby called out as she dodged another lash. "Let me guess - pressurized gas tanks in the handle? To drive the tip of the blade out?"

Ilia raised an eyebrow. Analyzing Lightning Lash in the middle of a fight? Blake wasn't kidding, she was a weapons nerd.

"And a pump to create a vacuum that sucks it back in, yes," replied Ilia as she continued swinging. "The whole thing is basically like one big straw. Wherever the tip goes, the rest of the blade follows."

"Neat!" Ruby ducked under a lateral swipe. "I'd like to take a look at it once we're done here!"

"Hey, I don't let anyone touch my girl," scowled Ilia. Then she smirked. "Buuut if you can beat me, I might make an exception."

"Challenge accepted!" declared Ruby, grinning as she saw the whip start to come towards her face. But at the last second she disappeared into a ball of petals, swirling around the length of the whip and crashing into Ilia. The faunus was sent flying, but flipped and landed on her feet as she slid back. Ruby grinned as she reformed, and lunged forward -

And suddenly her silver eyes were replaced by amber orbs glowing with tongues of flame, her dark red hair was replaced by pure black, and her rose petals were replaced by swirling fire. The training sword became a blade forged of obsidian glass, her red tank top became a flowing crimson dress, and her confident grin transformed into a sadistic smirk. No longer was Ilia in the training hall - now she was back in the Downside, staring down the dark Fall Maiden as she moved in for the kill.

"No! Not this time you bitch!" Ilia screamed, slashing with Lightning Lash in a wild flurry. Cinder was knocked off course, but the faunus didn't stop there. She shortened her whip back into a sword and charged in, redoubling her uncontrolled assault as she swung and slashed from every conceivable angle.

Ilia!

A voice in her head. Just her conscience. She ignored it. She kept slashing and cutting. She broke past her guard, and was now striking the body directly. The Aura began to crumble under her assault.

Ilia, stop! You're hurting me! Whatever you think you're seeing, it isn't real!

Ilia, in fact, did not stop. She kept striking, harder and harder until the evil bitch that took Hogarth from her was on her knees, Aura shattered into a million pieces. Lightning Lash bit again, this time drawing blood. Good. Next strike would be aimed for the throat, and everything would be okay again.

I SAID STOP!

A blast of pure force knocked Ilia off her feet, sending her reeling and hitting the ground hard. She blinked, trying to clear the stars from her vision, and stared back at Cinder, ready for whatever trick she had...only to see Ruby on her hands and knees, panting and coughing as her eyes faintly glowed silver, a few drops of blood dripping from her bare arm.

Oh shit.

"R-Ruby!" Ilia screamed. "Are you -!"

"I'm alright," said the young Rose, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a first aid kit. "You just grazed me."

Ilia's eyes welled up with tears as she pulled herself shakily to her feet. "Wh-why did I…"

"Stress flashback," finished Ruby, already working to bandage the scratch. "Usually one of the first signs of PTSD. I'll send you some info to your scroll, and tell Doctor Vahlen to do a wellness check on you. It's gonna be okay, Ilia...lots of people have overcome -"

"It's not gonna be okay!"

Silver eyes widened at Ilia's outburst. The faunus continued her rant, stumbling away from Ruby as she did so.

"Nothing is okay! Nothing is ever okay for me! First I lose my parents in a freak accident, then I almost lose my best friend in an alien war! Then I help trigger a Grimm attack, and I lose my place with my brothers and sisters in the White Fang! And now the two people that trusted me the most, the two people that gave me a chance and took me under their wing, are dead and I couldn't do anything about it! So tell me, Captain! How can you possibly say that things are gonna be okay?!"

"Because the same thing happened to me, goddammit!"

Now it was Ilia's turn to blanche, staring back at Ruby. The young girl's eyes were just about to burst with tears, before she blinked and willed them back.

"...I mean, not all of that, obviously. But I know what it feels like to lose people that trusted you, that taught you everything you know."

Ilia watched as Ruby pulled herself to her feet, moving to a nearby bench and patting the spot next to her. "Here. Take a seat, and I'll tell you all about a man named Major Vance…"

The faunus girl did so, and for the next hour or so, Ilia Amitola listened to Ruby regale her stories about Major Vance, Colonel Zhang, and all the other heroes of Earth that the young Captain had grown close to...and the pain she herself had to deal with upon losing them. To some extent Ilia already knew the basic details from her talks with Blake, but to hear Ruby elaborate and speak wistfully about the man who had taught her not just how to be an XCOM sniper but how to be a Captain...to hear firsthand about how Zhang had stormed an advancing alien force with nothing more than a handgun...and to hear small details about each and every friend Ruby had lost...it was overwhelming. But at the same time, it gave Ilia hope.

After all, if someone like Ruby could overcome her trauma, surely she could as well.

Right?

Right.

Except...little details during the talk told Ilia that Ruby maybe wasn't as okay as she wanted everyone to believe she was. The way she reached for something on her hip that no longer was there, the tears that threatened to burst when she talked about Zhang, the way she got fidgety with her hands...she tried to put on the face of an officer, but the tells were there. Ruby was still hurting, and yet she was still choosing to put the well-being of others above her own.

She had only ever seen that kind of strength in Sienna Khan.

When the stories were told and Ruby was finished, Ilia was quiet for a long while. She looked down at her feet, fiddled with her ponytail, wiped away a few errant tears that managed to slip through her eyes.

Then she put a hand on Ruby's shoulder, and pulled her in for a hug.

"U-um…" Ruby mumbled, unsure whether to return it or pull back.

"Thank you, Ruby…" whispered Ilia. "For sharing your own pain with me. I want to get better, so that what just happened...doesn't happen again. But I want to see you get better too, you know? Let you know that...it's okay to not be okay…okay?"

Ruby nodded, finally letting her mental mask slip and allowing herself to cry, shuddering and sobbing as Ilia held her tight.

Neither of them would be okay. Not for a while.

But at least they weren't alone.