Chapter 51

So boooored… a young woman moaned to herself. It was late in the afternoon, almost evening really, and the store she worked at was empty. As it had been for the last three hours.

It was always empty really. Despite their low prices, it was almost impossible for any Dust shop to last around here. Surviving with the SDC around was difficult. Their Dust was cheaper, better quality and there was more of it. It didn't matter that the store was full of good Dust right now when people could get better for the same price.

Urghhhhhhh she groaned to herself. If I didn't need to pay for college.

Thankfully a customer finally arrived to save her from her own boredom. Some guy with a shaved head and a trenchcoat. Well, she thought he was a customer until he pulled a gun on her.

"Gimme ya Dust!"

Fuuuuuuuuuu- she whined to herself. She pulled out her keys to open the cases when she saw a red rose petal floating through the air. The man noticed it too and looked around confused. They both noticed a few hundred petals squeezing in under the door at the same time.

And then all hell broke loose.

The man went flying as a leg appeared out of nowhere, seemingly made by the petals combining together, and kicked him. He slammed against the door and dropped his gun by accident. The door hissed as it slid open, causing him to fall back out of it. The floating leg broke apart again and joined the rest of the petals as they formed into a ball above her attacker.

The ball burst and from within it came a massive scythe. It slashed towards the thief, who rolled to escape it. The young woman finally got a look at her saviour and was surprised.

She couldn't make out much behind the torn and tattered red cloak but what she could make out seemed to be a girl a few years younger than her. This cloaked girl swung her scythe like it was nothing as she chased the thief, who drew a short sword to combat his foe.

The girl moved like nothing she had seen before. Her power to become petals was used almost constantly, causing the man's sword to just breeze through her body and do nothing. The man's eyes were full of fear, for he had realised he could do nothing against this girl.

Cloak. Scythe. Utterly terrifying. She's like some kind of Reaper! The young woman thought as her legs shook with terror.

The Reaper acted with speed and power, the likes of which neither the young woman nor the thief could ever hope to match. The thief tried desperately to parry or block the scythe, but the Reaper was leading him into a trap.

The scythe twisted around, completely swapping which side the blade was on, and the Reaper hooked the back end around the man's leg and pulled, upending him. He fell with a cry of pain and then a cry of anger as the Reaper threw his weapon away.

A pair of grey and purple balls with a rope linking them was wrapped around his wrists. The man was suddenly caught, with no way to fight back. Especially as she put another pair around his legs.

The Reaper then came into the store and handed a small card over. "If there was any damage caused by the fight, please call this number. The military will be by shortly to take a statement." She then grabbed the dropped weapons and dragged the man away.

What the… the young retail worker collapsed to her knees. What just happened? It had all been so quick. I think I should lock up now...

"So you caught a Dust thief huh? Nice work!" Jaune said with a smile. Ruby just shrugged in response.

"It wasn't that hard. I caught him by surprise. He was pretty easy to deal with really."

"Still that was good work. I just watched kids cross the road for a few hours." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

Pyrrha giggled. "He didn't just watch kids. He also started to get a group of admirer's."

"Pyrrhaaaaaa!" Jaune whined in response which caused Pyrrha to laugh. Ruby let a small smile out.

They'd gathered in a small common room in the dorms to discuss what they'd done for their first missions in Atlas. Jaune helped kids cross the road while Pyrrha had been patrolling the area. Ren and Nora had gone to the walls apparently whilst her father and uncle had worked at the Amity site. Ilia and Oscar had guarded some of the transports heading out there.

Overall a very productive first day.

Ruby mostly sat on the sidelines as everyone else discussed what they did. She was fine sitting out these days. After her recent failure against the leviathan, she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Too much to consider.

As things winded down Maria, who apparently had come up with Pietro and was staying as his guest, came into the room and pulled her aside. "Ruby. I wanted to talk about what happened at Argus. Specifically, the whole eyes failing thing."

Ruby's mouth went dry. "Y-you do huh?"

"Yes. I wanted to ask why you thought it failed."

"I…" she thought about lying for a moment. Hiding the truth so that she could deal with it herself. But would that really help? She needed to solve this if she wanted to use them and Maria was the only one here with the experience to help her. Ruby sighed. "When I tried to think about what I wanted to protect I sort of… lost control. Memories of who I've lost took over and became all I could think about."

Maria thought for a moment. "Well to me it sounds like you need to get over all that death or whatever. I know, I know, not as easy as it sounds. I'm just saying what I think you need to do to use your eyes. Get over it or move on or something. I don't know."

"How could you not know?"

"Look, Ruby. I've never had any issues like that okay? When my friends and family died I had time to move on from their deaths. From all I've heard, it sounds like you haven't. If you want to use your best Grimm killing weapon then you need to figure out a way past your block. I can't help. I don't have experience in this kind of thing. Find a psychiatrist or something." The old lady was firm as she spoke and poked Ruby with her cane.

"I… okay…"

"Good! Once that's sorted we can do some more training. Got it?"

"Yea."

Move on? How was she supposed to do that?

Atlas was a bright city. It never seemed to sleep with all of its lights. It made for a scenic view at least. Pyrrha bit her lower lip as she waited on a balcony.

Eventually, Jaune arrived.

"You wanted to talk Pyrrha?"

"Yeah. I did." She swallowed as he came to stand next to her.

"Beautiful view huh?"

"It is." Come on girl. You can do this! "Jaune… I… umm." She let out a huge sigh. "When we met you didn't know who I was."

"Yeah, I made a fool of myself. Sorry about that."

"No! It was nice. I've been Pyrrha, The Invincible Girl, for so long. But when I'm with you it's like I'm just Pyrrha. I get to be myself with you. Sure that's extended to everyone now but it started with you. I… well I said at the dance, right? You are the kind of guy I wanted to take to it."

"Right…" He gave her a curious look.

"What I'm trying to say is that you changed my life, Jaune. So really is it any wonder that…" She stalled. Right at the moment of truth. Come on me! Just spit it out! "That I… I…"

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked with a worried tone.

"I…" Come on! If she couldn't get the words out, then she only had one option left. She grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and pulled him closer.

"Pyrh-!" He was cut off as they joined. They remained together for as long as they could before she finally pulled back to breathe. "I… woah…" Jaune fumbled his own words.

"Jaune Arc, I love you!" She blurted out. Yes! I got it out! Haha!

"You… you do?"

"Yes."

"But you're way out of my league!"

"I don't believe in that crap."

"But I'm… I'm not worthy of being… together together with you."

"I don't believe that either." Pyrrha said firmly and pulled him into a hug. "I want us to be together Jaune. I have for so long. I held off because I wasn't strong enough to get it off my chest and then we were travelling and a lot was going on. But we aren't going anywhere for a while and I'm done being so weak."

"Pyrrha… I'm the one that's weak around here."

"Nope." She popped the p like she'd heard Ruby do once long ago at Beacon. "You aren't weak. Not anymore. I'll say it as many times as needed. I. Love. You." She poked his chest between each word for emphasis.

"Pyrrha… are you sure?"

"I am Jaune."

"Okay… then umm... will you be… be my girlfriend?" He asked, an unsure smile on his face.

"Yes!" She gleefully answered.

She brought him in once more and sealed their agreement with a kiss. He properly reciprocated this time.

It was wonderful and everything Pyrrha had ever dreamed it would be.

She felt freer than ever before.

Night had long fallen on Atlas, though it was no less bright. Ruby sat alone near the air docks on a small ledge, looking out over the city. How do I 'fix' my problem? She wondered.

Eventually, she was joined by Ilia. The two sat in silence for a long time. After maybe an hour Ilia finally broke it.

"I wanted to talk. Not about everything you guys have told me about Salem. We're a team now I guess and… well I want to get to know you and for you to know me. But since I'm joining the group I guess I'll go first." She took in a deep breath, preparing herself.

"Well um. I've been to Atlas before. Not the academy. I grew up here in a way. I went to a really good, high-end school. Because my Faunus trait is really easy to hide I could pretend to be human." Her skin shifted to show it off. She was right, with a simple change there was nothing to suggest she was a Faunus. Well aside from her entire outfit changing with her. Ilia sighed and pulled out her scroll. A few taps later and her suit was back to normal.

"Sorry. Still getting used to that. Anyway. I got really good at controlling my natural ability. It was useful in the White Fang because I could blend in for an entire day. But uh. Well, my parents couldn't hide themselves like I could and they needed money. So they worked at an SDC mine. A mine that eventually collapsed and killed them. It was too dangerous to go back in so it was closed off."

Something clicked in Ruby's mind. "The mine that Amity is using now. That was it, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. My parents died there. At school, I put up with all the racism everyone displayed towards the Faunus because I could get a good education and try to better lives later. Once my parents died though I was angry. Enraged. So when my own friends started joking about the mine collapse I just… snapped."

Ilia took a shuddering breath to control herself. "I left Atlas after that fight. They lived but I couldn't stay. I eventually ended up with the White Fang and met Blake. I… I fell in love with her. Her leaving hurt, but her death hurt so much more. I was so easy for Adam to manipulate into helping him. So weak after hearing about Blake."

Silence fell again. Ruby looked over to see tears streaming down Ilia's face. Ruby hesitated for a moment and then reached a hand over to Ilia's shoulder. The girl smiled a little. "I've only told Blake the full story before. It felt good to get it all out again. Thanks."

It felt… good to get it all out? The words felt odd in Ruby's mind. She tried to think back. Had she ever told anyone everything that had happened? Had she ever gotten it all off of her chest? Not just the mission to Mountain Glenn, but also everything before and since? No. No, she hadn't. She'd given bits and pieces but never everything. Is that the key? Will that help me? Do I lose anything by trying?

She took a deep breath herself. "Ilia. I… I want to get stuff off of my chest as well. A lot of stuff."

"Then go for it." The other girl replied. "Telling Blake helped me back in the day. I might not be as close with you as I was with her, but I want us to be friends going forward. So I want to help if I can."

"I don't really know where to start…"

"The beginning is good. But really just talk about anything. I don't mind."

Damn. Blake this girl is so nice! Why didn't you bring her to Beacon with you! Ruby sighed. "The beginning…" Looking up at the stars she thought. What was the beginning for her? When did her issues start?

"I've always wanted to be a Huntress. To protect the world and make it a better place. I knew the world wasn't like my fairy tales because I lost my mom at a super young age. To be honest I don't remember a lot. My mom was a badass Huntress and a great cook. She was kind and hopeful and beautiful. But I was so young that I never saw anything other than her best. She went on a mission and never came back. Now I realise that she went up against Salem somehow, but back then it just hurt. Dad shut down for a while and Yang picked up the slack."

Once she started the words almost spilled out. She couldn't really stop anymore. "But I enjoyed my life. I was sad and wished mom was back but I was okay. I even got accepted in Beacon two years early for my efforts to grow strong. I was leader of a team and made lots of friends. Even with things going on with the White Fang and some tough spots we made it through. Until Mountain Glenn."

Tears stung her eyes. This time it was Ilia's turn to place a hand on Ruby's shoulder. The warmth was encouraging. "The mission went well at first. We were to investigate the fallen city and kill Grimm. But then I got caught. I escaped but the White Fang started their train. We got on board and fought through. We won and stopped the train, averting a disaster. But that caused another one."

Her breathing got harder. She swallowed and balled her fists up. The tears fell. "We managed to escape the tunnel but my incompetence got me hurt. A Beowolf tried to gut me. Weiss put up a wall and Yang killed it but… Weiss' wall destabilised the area we were on. It began to crumble and Weiss fell back. She… she…" Ruby closed her eyes for a moment and breathed. Only after a few minutes had passed did she finally reopen them and continue. "Weiss died protecting me. It was my fault she had to. If I was better she wouldn't have had to."

Ilia scooted closer and wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders. "It wasn't your fault. Things happen in battle. People get wounded. It happens."

"But it caused everything else! If I wasn't injured then Yang wouldn't have had to stay behind and fight a horde by herself! Blake wouldn't have had to protect me from a Nevermore! I may not have intended for any of it to happen but… but…" Ruby pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. She felt so weak. So vulnerable. After what Jinn had shown them and her failure to use her eyes it all was feeling too much.

"I spent a lot of time in the White Fang. Missions went wrong all the time and people died. Being injured doesn't make it your fault Ruby. You didn't cause anything. They chose to do those things. They wouldn't want you to feel guilty over their choice." Ilia's voice was firm but comforting. The logic was sound too.

It hurts. I'm responsible! Or… no I just want to feel responsible. The person I can blame the most is me. If I was better, stronger, tougher, faster and a million other things then I could do everything and save everyone. That's not possible and I knew that. I just… "I just wanted to blame someone. Even myself." Ruby clasped her hands to her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"We know who to blame though, don't we? The Gods. Salem. Cinder. They are all more deserving of blame than you are." Ilia smiled, tears in her eyes.

"I…" She was right. It's not my fault. It's not. She repeated to herself for a few minutes and then let out an explosive sigh. "Okay. It wasn't my fault."

"Feel better?"

Ruby thought for a moment. Was she better? A little. "Yes. But there's more I want to get off my chest." If she felt better after working over that part, how would she feel after doing it all? "I guess next was the Festival. I failed to stop Cinder despite all the prep I did. I guess I stopped her killing my friends and from claiming all the Maiden powers but it didn't feel like a victory. Still doesn't. Adam killed Penny too. I couldn't beat him so I lost another friend."

"But she's back now. Maybe the only one in the world who can come back but she is." Ilia was right of course. They'd punished Adam as well. "Looks like you have something else?"

"Yeah. My last big loss I guess. We travelled to Mistral after Beacon fell but before we reached Haven we hit up a town called Kiku. It was some mining town that had stopped supplying its neighbours. Long story short there was a serial killer captain and a mayor with a memory manipulation Semblance. He was essentially brainwashing the town. I got caught by him and… well I managed to partially free myself. It gave me the chance and I took it. I killed him. I didn't lose anything material or anyone, but I did lose a part of me."

"What part?"

"I guess whatever remained of my innocence. I decided afterwards that since I had already killed I'd do the dirty work. Consort with criminals. Kill our enemies. Do everything I didn't want my friends to sully their hands with."

Ilia's face took on a darker look. "So what, you decided you were 'tainted' by killing him?"

Ruby shrugged. "I guess you can put it that way."

"That's stupid."

"I… what?" Ruby blinked.

"That's stupid." Ilia repeated. At Ruby's confusion, she said it a third time. When Ruby didn't seem to get it she sighed. "Ruby. I've killed before. Blake did too. Neither of us ever enjoyed it. But we did it all the same. Was Blake unworthy of going to Beacon to redeem herself?"

"N-no…"

"Am I unable to redeem myself by joining you?"

"No…"

"Then why are you unworthy of redeeming yourself for killing one man? Why are you the exception?" Ilia left the questions hanging. Ruby had no answer. After a minute of silence, Ilia continued. "Ruby you can become whoever you want to. We all can. If Blake and I can decide to stop killing then so can you. Don't feel trapped."

Ruby felt herself be pulled into a hug. Her arms slowly extracted themselves from her legs and wrapped around Ilia.

She's right… again. I can be that fairy tale Huntress again if I want to be. Although I won't be sad if I have to kill Cinder or Salem, it doesn't have to be my first resort. They wouldn't want me to think of killing as the first thing to do. She'd been so caught up in herself and her mission to really think about it. Why would her friends, her family, want her to become a killer?

They wouldn't. Qrow had said Summer wouldn't even want her to be a Huntress, so why would any of them want her to be so willing to kill?

I wish I'd talked things out before… I really just needed a push. Of course, maybe she would have resisted before. Maybe she had needed to be hit hard by Jinn's reveal and the leviathan. Maybe she needed Ilia to be the one to push her.

She had a lot to think about now.

"Thank you. Ilia."

"Thank you, Ruby."

Jaune was a little cranky. He'd wanted to talk with Ruby the night before but had gotten sidetracked by Pyrrha. He didn't regret that of course but he hadn't found Ruby that night. They weren't going to have much time this morning before missions so maybe he should just say he wanted to talk later?

He was the first there and had to begrudgingly give his coffee to Marrow. Ruby and Ilia came in last and Jaune was instantly surprised.

Ruby had changed her cloak to the new one. She looked a little lighter in how she walked as well. There was almost an air of… not quite happiness. Maybe content? He wasn't sure.

What he was sure of was the fact that Ruby didn't look like she needed his help anymore.

I guess our talk can wait then.

A/N: And so here it is. The big thing I've been waiting for most of the fic to write. Ruby and Ilia's conversation. Or really Ruby's turning point. Ilia was the perfect person to get her to open up. Tai and Qrow don't really understand and it can be hard to talk to family about things anyway. JNPR showed in Jaundice that they would sit back and let somebody figure themself out rather than interfere, so most of them have been waiting rather than acting. Zwei is a dog and Oscar is a kid so neither were really gonna do much. Maria is an old cranky lady. Though she did give a very big and important push. But really if it wasn't for the recent, to them, reveal and Ruby's failure to use her eyes she probably wouldn't have been as receptive to opening up. But here comes Ilia, wanting to open up herself so they can be friends and work well together. The perfect person at the perfect time to blow Ruby's self away and show where she's being an idiot. It's not quite going to a shrink, but it helps. Of course, this doesn't just fix everything. It's a long road to healing, but Ruby has finally started. The first few steps are the hardest, but she's got plenty of friends around her to help out.

Meanwhile, a poor retail worker is terrified, a thief is caught and Pyrrha and Jaune get together. I really enjoyed writing the first scene. Showing our heroes fighting from the pov of a civilian is interesting, to say the least.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!