Ruby had to admit, when she first agreed to helping Salem with gathering the powers of the four Maidens, as well as the for Relics, she had been a bit skeptical in her decision. In fact, she had agreed initially because of a couple of reasons. For starters, she was terrified of what Salem would do if she had refused the offer; sure Salem said that she would be free to go, but at the time, Ruby wasn't sure Salem could be trusted. The second reason was because Salem had promised to help make amends for her mother's death at the hands of the Grimm. Another reason why she joined, was because she wanted to make Ozpin pay for all of the people who had died or been hurt because of his lying.

But now... After acquiring the power of the Fall Maiden? Ruby was starting to actually see herself seeing this through to the end. With the type of power she now felt, it was almost indescribable. Salem's orders were clear: find the Maidens. Obtain the Relics; bring them all back to her. And then Ruby would be done and she would be able to be done with this endless war that she found herself in the middle of.

She had the first Maiden's power already; after Cinder had been so kind in giving it to her. And now Ruby found herself outside the docks at Beacon Academy. It was nighttime, with the courtyard being bathed in a soft white light that made everything seem calm and serene, despite the fact that Ruby was about to break into the school and steal one of the most carefully kept secrets in Remnant.

"No turning back now..." Ruby whispered to herself, pulling her hood up and covering her face and right eye with a black mask that Salem had given her.

Besides the mask, Salem had also been kind enough to gift Ruby with a brand new outfit that would allow her to complete her tasks easier while also making it harder for her to be recognized. Not that Ruby was worried about that; after all, a week had gone by since the day in the Emerald Forest, and according to the news reports that she had seen on her Scroll, Ruby had been declared dead. Killed by the large horde of Grimm that had been chasing her that day.

If only they all knew...

Ruby's new outfit was simple in design, being made of a deep maroon, form fitting fabric, it hugged her body tight enough to prevent anything from dangling or hanging off of her, while still being loose enough for her to move freely and without restriction to her movement. She had black, steel-toed boots on that had a hidden knife tucked away in a sheath that sat outside the back of each boot, giving her a total of two. And finally, she had a light, leather belt on that carried a handful of different pouches for storing ammo, Dust, and other various supplies she might need. And of course she still had her hood, albeit it now was a little bit different in the fact that Salem had stitched another layer on top of it that as black in color, making it black on the outside and red on the inside.

Ruby looked up at the shattered moon and let out a short sigh, then activated her Semblance, speeding towards the main hall of the academy in relative silence. There weren't any students out at this time of night, with the curfew that they had to follow, they had all gone to bed hours ago. Which made Ruby's job even easier; the less people she had to avoid, the better. When Ruby reached the main door, she let out a small hum of amusement when she found that her Scroll was still able to unlock the door.

"Guess they forgot to mark me dead in the system... Wonder why?" Ruby mused as she slipped inside.

She was immediately assaulted with the familiar bright lights and clean marble interiors of the academy, with her boots being muffled by the fancy, shag rug that covered the floors. A small smirk formed on her lips, hidden by her mask, of course, but then it faded quickly when she heard movement not too far away. Instantly, Ruby looked at her immediate surroundings for a place to hide, then decided to just turn and run down the opposite end of the hall, intent on circling back around to get to the inner courtyard so that she could get to the CCT Tower where Ozpin's office was. That was where she needed to get, since she had a feeling that Ozpin had the location of the four vaults hidden somewhere in there.

As Ruby ran down the hall, she was vaguely aware of the areas she was in, having the place practically memorized in her head from the last three years. Through the classroom wing, and the teacher's dormitory hall... and-

Ruby stopped suddenly as she turned the hall, something in her head telling her to stop and take a closer look at where she was.

'You know where you are... don't you, Ruby?'

Ruby's eye widened at the voice she suddenly heard, turning on the spot to look around with her hand reaching for Crescent Rose absentmindedly.

"Who's there?" Ruby hissed quietly as she looked around the hall.

There was nothing though; the only thing she could hear was the sounds of the school's massive air conditioning system and the occasional noise from outside. And there was nothing to be seen that was out of the ordinary either; she was the only one in the hall. She stood there for a few seconds, waiting to see if someone was trying to get the jump on her, but nobody showed, nobody came around the corner.

"I swear I heard something..."

'Ruuuuby... they think you're dead. All of them, Weiss, Blake... Yang. Everyone. They left you to die out there.'

Ruby froze up as she heard the voice again, spinning in place again as she balled her hands into fists, getting annoyed at whoever was messing with her.

"Alright, show yourself! I don't have time for games. Either show yourself, or get lost," Ruby yelled.

'There's nobody there. Nobody there for you, no one to stand by you anymore. You're a traitor. A turncoat. What would they say if they knew the truth? Do you think they would forgive you? After what you did to that bitch, Cinder?'

"Cinder had it coming. And I'm not a traitor! I'm doing this for everyone..."

'You mean you're doing it for yourself?'

Ruby gritted her teeth in anger before drawing Crescent Rose and unfurling the scythe, spinning around and swinging it hard. "Shut up!"

And yet, Ruby was still alone. There wasn't anyone behind her, not even signs that anyone HAD been there. Ruby blinked several times as she took a moment to calm down, glaring at the wall and growling in frustration before she rubbed at her face with her hand. Was it her imagination? Was she hearing things? Or had somebody actually been there talking to her?

"R-Ruby..? Is that you?"

Ruby felt her blood go cold as she heard her name, her eye widening in a mixture of shock and horror as she realized she'd been caught. Part of her screamed for her to run, to get out while she still had a chance and come back for the relic later. Yet there was also the part of her that wanted her to turn and face the one person she had hoped wouldn't find her. Silently cursing to herself, Ruby lowered Crescent Rose and turned around, her good eye blinking a few times as she stared silently at the person.

It was Weiss.

She'd always been a light sleeper; for three years Ruby had known her partner to get up in the middle of the night whenever there was a noise loud enough to be heard through the window of the dorm. In fact, everyone on the team had occasionally made jokes about how easily Weiss could be woken up from sleeping. But now, it seemed that Weiss' sleeping habits were catching Ruby with her guard down. Ruby was quiet as she stood there, her finger inching towards the trigger on her weapon, just in case she needed to act quickly. But despite the fact that Weiss currently was holding Myrtenaster in her hand, the white haired girl showed no signs of hostile intent; in fact she looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"Ruby..? You're alive? We all thought you were dead!" Weiss said as she took a couple of steps closer.

Ruby said nothing, merely backing up as Weiss approached, simultaneously aiming the barrel of Crescent Rose at her. She didn't want to do it, but she also couldn't afford any mistakes, or to be ratted out by her old teammate. Weiss raised an eyebrow in surprise and stopped, looking at the gun barrel pointed at her face for several seconds before she shook her head.

"Ruby, this isn't funny. Cut it out, come on. Come with me and we can go tell the others you're okay."

Ruby squinted a bit, letting out a short chuckle as she shook her head.

"No Weiss. I'm not going anywhere with you," Ruby practically growled, her voice slightly muffled due to her mask.

"What? Why? What's wrong with you?"

The itch was back, the same feeling Ruby had felt when she had confronted Cinder; it was nagging at Ruby, goading her into just attacking and being done with the whole situation. After all, she WAS the Fall Maiden now; she could easily take Weiss down and get to the CCT Tower without a problem... So, why wasn't she.

"Ruby Rose is dead. Go back to your dorm, and don't come after me. Or I will hurt you," Ruby said, her eye shining in the light of the hall. And after she finished speaking, Ruby turned and started walking away.

Weiss blinked a couple of times, confusion clear as day across her face, but as she watched this masked figure turn and leave, she couldn't help herself as she ran after and grabbed the person's arm.

"Ruby, wait! What are you-?"

Ruby's snapped when she felt her arm getting gripped, spinning in place with the use of her Semblance to grab Weiss by the throat and slam her against the wall, her silver eye glaring at her.

"Don't touch me, Schnee!" Ruby snarled, transforming Crescent Rose to it's rifle mode and aiming it at Weiss. "I told you, Ruby Rose is dead! You left her to die in that forest, while you and all your friends left and made it to safety. But you, Weiss Schnee, you were her partner! It was your job to take care of her, to watch her back. And you left like the coward you are! It's your fault the Grimm killed her, it's your fault she's gone. Her sister and her father and Uncle have to live the rest of their lives without her. Because YOU left her to die!"

Weiss was quiet, merely squeezing her eyes shut in fear as she was held by her throat against the wall; each word hitting her like a punch in her gut. But even as she was berated, and yelled at, she didn't say a thing... at least, not at first. As Crescent Rose was inched closer to her head, she hung her head and dropped Myrtenaster to the floor.

"I... I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to go back for her, but I was scared. She never made it out, and everyone was tired and Nora was hurt. So I ran, I ran and left her to save myself and everyone else. And I'm sorry!" Weiss admitted. "I shouldn't have left her... I'm so sorry..."

Ruby continued to glare at Weiss, the itch she felt still gnawing away at her; but after Weiss started sobbing, she let her go and fired a single round from Crescent Rose into the wall, the thunderous bang almost deafening Weiss as the bullet caused pieces of marble to shatter and hit the floor. As Weiss sank to her knees and cried, Ruby stood over her and tightened her hand into a fist, practically seething with anger as she backed away and turned to leave.

"Sorry doesn't fix what you did. Ruby is gone, and I hope it haunts you for the rest of your life," Ruby said coldly as she ran down the hall.