Chapter 4: Finding a Home

Advanced Atlesian Medical Hospital

Yang woke up to two voices arguing outside, recognizing them as her dad and uncle. She quietly slipped out of the embrace of the still sleeping Schnee family. She paused right beside the door entrance, and listened.

"Tai… please… you have to understand, there is no other way."

"Don't give me that crap, there is always another way!"

"If there was another way we would've taken it without a second glance, but there is not, project NH4 (New Home For :) is the only credible choice, Professor (Doctor) Polendina is the best at his field for a reason. Tai, please, let them save Ruby."

"And condemn her to a fate worse than death? We don't know if this secret science project of Ironwood's truly works, we don't know if it can "support a human soul.""

"What other choice do we have? We can't just wait with Ruby's life at stake until we think we're ready"

Yang then realizes that she has been leaning too hard on the door, and it opens. She falls face flat on the ground, waking up the Schnee Family and startling the two arguing men. Qrow and Tai both try to compose themselves in front of the 7 year old, only to find themselves incapable of doing so. Heavily breathing, they look at Yang, who was starting to cry, and back at themselves, seeing how their argument had been overheard, and the damage they did with it. So they gather Yang in their arms, exchanging glances, an unspoken agreement flashing in their eyes, and dragged out the words that needed to be said.

"Yang, do you want to know how were gonna save Ruby?"

Atlas Military Base, #REDACTED

Professor (Doctor) Polendina hummed while he sat working on the newest model of Atlesian Knights. They would be dark brown in colour with red visors, with arms that would be able to transform into blades and gatling guns (bots from Black Trailer).

A buzz sounded from the door, and General Ironwood came in, with a face that Polendina dubbed: "important "

"Hello Richter, how are you today?"

"Oh, I'm fine, just finalizing the programming for the AK 130s, nothing much. However, you…" He paused with a knowing look on his old face "have that look on your face, and you only come late in the night with that look on your face when you have something important to tell me about, so… General Ironwood, what news do you bring me?"

"A candidate for Project NH4." Ironwood stated, causing all gears in Richter Polendina's head to grind to a halt.

"Didn't you say that there were no people willing enough to volunteer their-"

"That has changed, you will find that there is now a family more than willing to allow you to do the transfer, it is a matter of life and death." Ironwood paused, a strange look in his eyes as he looked outside, perhaps it was sadness?

"Great Scott! Very well, I'm going to need measurements on the patient, for all the limbs and additional Faunus parts necessary, I going to need to call an assistant. Also, have a transport move the patient to the transfer area," The Professor (Doctor) quickly barked out orders, putting on his lab coat, dialing his assistant on his scroll: "Oobleck I need you at Laboratory 51, please make haste!" There was no time to lose, he had a life to save.

Atlesian Advanced Medical Hospital

Tai, Yang and Qrow watched Ruby get carted into the transport hover, they were then requested to board the hover themselves. The procedure of NH4 was as it was dubbed by Polendina: "Provide a New Home For people who do not have properly working bodies," and the Aura, the manifestation of one's soul, of the people closest to the patient were needed for his/her soul to feel at home.

Ruby once again, found herself in paradise, sitting on the green hill enjoying the breeze ruffling her ears. A spectral figure in a white cloak came and joined Ruby in sitting, drawing her into a hug. Ruby immediately hugged back, smiling, forgetting the world of pain she had just been as she drew in her mother's scent, a scent of roses just like hers, but with a bit of steel.

"Do you like it here Ruby?" Summer asked, gently patting her ears, they continued to stare into the distance.

"It's so beautiful here, you live here every day?" Ruby squeaks, earning a sad laugh from Summer.

"It is, but you cannot be with your family and friends down below."

"Then let me be with you mom, we could stargaze, a-and watch the sun set, can I? It hurts so much back there, please?"

Summer sighed once again: "Ruby, as much as I would love to have your company, there is something I need to show you…"

Summer waved with her hand, and a scene appeared in front of them. A man dressed in a strange white coat put her body into a chamber, with a strange looking ball on the other end of the room. The two were then linked together by wires, and the ball was turned on. Ruby saw her sister, dad and uncle all sitting around the small ball, their hands touching the ball. She suddenly felt a torrent of emotions from her family, begging her to return "Ruby, you still have a chance to return, please do, they need you," she felt the fear, sadness, guilt and concern her family had for her, the happiness, joy and laughter they had together, and then she turned to her mother, who was smiling with tears dripping from her eyes. The two embraced, and both parted with bittersweet smiles on their faces, and Ruby asked one last time:

"Mom, are you sure you want me to leave?"

She felt herself slipping out of Paradise, but not before hearing her mother's parting words: "Ruby, I will be here for longer than you can imagine, I am not going anywhere. So please Ruby, return to your family, tell Yang I said happy birthday. You won't see me again for many years but I promise you, I'll see you when the time comes…"

Qrow Tai and Yang listened as Oobleck and Polendina went over the procedure:

"This ball here is a contraption I have named SoulHome, a ball that can project and contain a soul. It contains a Gravity dust core which will keep all of Ruby's components connected together. In order for Ruby's soul to inhabit this ball, her body must be placed within close proximity of the SoulHome, effectively making it the first and most compelling choice for her, so she won't possess a table instead. Then, you must focus your Auras onto the ball; if many family members focus their love and memories onto the SoulHome then Ruby's own soul will be drawn to ball…" Oobleck took a breath, then continued: "the last step needed, is for Ruby's soul to leave her original body."

The group of three nodded, touching the orange sized metal sphere, and activated their Auras, one silent prayer being said as they all closed their eyes. Come back to us Ruby…

Yang thought of the time when she first saw Ruby, a wailing bundle in the final embrace of a dead Summer.

"MOM…MOM! Uncle Qrow, why won't she wake up?"

"She's…gone dragon, she's no longer with us." Qrow walked out of the room, following a grief filled Tai.

A loud wailing caught Yang's attention, and she looked over to see two wolf ears perk out of her mom's embrace. The baby kept nudging the rapidly cooling body of the mother, trying to find warmth from a body that no longer possessed such an ability, seeking attention from a corpse. Qrow and Tai came back to a sight that warmed and broke their hearts at the same time: Yang lay on Summer's lap, cradling Ruby and shushing Ruby with her finger as she rocked the baby slowly, in the shadow of their dead mother. Their mouths slowly twitched upwards amid all the tears, and they too went and embraced the children.

Ruby let out her last breath, a choked gasp, and the room was silent, waiting for the ball to get an Aura signature. Qrow and Tai started panicking, and Yang started crying as they waited a few moments without hearing a peep from the SoulHome. Oobleck started looking over the readings again, wondering if something indeed had gone wrong. But then, a whirring sound was heard, red lines began appearing on the ball and it began levitating, signifying the presence of a soul.

The scientists quickly ran and detached Ruby's body from the contraption, Oobleck and Polendina let out a deep sigh of relief, only to peer at the readings chart when they saw something unprecedented. It appeared that a silver light was softly coming out from the ball, and the power rating on the ball kept going up, slowly but surely. Oobleck then took notes on the chart and headed to the lab; they made a mental note to investigate more on this phenomenon, but first, they needed to let Ruby to speak to her family.

Ruby looked at the, mirror and saw her new "body," It was a metal ball slightly larger than her fist, with red markings all over it. She felt it was strange, being able to see in front and behind herself. A bunch of numbers popped up in the left corners of her vision, and other weird lines and a calendar appeared on the right side.

"Wow…" she said, voice electronic, but still with that squeaky tone. She saw Yang running up to meet her, and attempted to tackle her sister, only to realize that she didn't have her arms attached yet, resulting in a halfhearted bump on the cheek.

"Ruby can you hear me?" Yang asked as she held the ball that was now her sister close to her chest

"Yeah sis, I can hear… you." Ruby chirped, only to stop and trail off when she saw her original and lifeless body right beside her. Ruby slowly floated towards the corpse, feeling a pit forming in her stomach when she saw the state of her old flesh body. Ruby's right hand and left foot were missing, only bloody tourniquets at the end. Burns and bandages littered her broken and battered body, only stopping at her face. Her eyes were now open, but instead of a playful silver they were a sullen grey, clouding up as her old body grew cold. The lines on the ball darkened slightly, and Yang responded to this by hugging her once more. It felt strange, seeing your own body from a different angle, a body that looked dead to the world, yet living at the same time. She watched it for a while, unconsciously trying to move it, but she couldn't muster a twitch from her carcass. Ruby's mind chose this moment to produce the most random yet important thought to her: Just how am I going to eat cookies now?

While Ruby had been staring at her body with Yang, Qrow and Tai had been busy talking with the scientists responsible with saving Ruby's life:

"W-we can't thank you enough, Doctor. Polendina, we are forever in your debt." Tai's adrenaline was still lingering in his body from the recent events, causing his voice to be somewhat shaky.

"Gentleman, your thanks are music to my ears, but we do have more to discuss. Ruby must not tell others that she is indeed a robot, this Project is not illegal in Atlas, but the idea of putting someone's soul into another object is vehemently resisted in Vale, Vacuo and Mistral, so do keep quiet about this."

"Understood."

"Ruby's Soul now lives in a SoulHome v.2.2.3, a floating control system capable of levitating and attaching pieces to itself, with advanced computing abilities to help the user make quick calculations. The SoulHome's Gravity Dust Core has a lifetime of Half a year, before it needs to get replaced, but there are ways to extend the lifetime: you can add organic substances like leaves and let the SoulHome process it and turn it into Dust, or you could open the bottom carefully and add more gravity dust powder directly. Another thing I would like to address would be Ruby's body itself. Do you plan on installing regular day to day prosthetics to Ruby's SoulHome, or do you plan on getting her combat ready material?"

Qrow and Tai looked at each other, a knowing smile on their face, and answered: "Combat prosthetics. Ruby has always had dreams of being a Huntress, her first legible drawing was of Qrow beating up a Beowolf with his bare hands. We know that she would still love to be a Huntress."

"Alright, very well, I will be going to the lab to pick up the 3D printed head and torso of Ruby's new body, in the meantime, feel free to converse with Ruby, the SoulHome has a speaker built into it, I spared no expense when making it. It even has a built in telecommunication system for scrolls, in case you are in a place with no signal." The Professor (Doctor) walked out, leaving Qrow and Tai to deal with an anxious ball asking how she would be able to eat cookies. It felt brighter and warmer, even if it was cold and dark outside.

Vale, Police Station

Blake felt dizzy from all the events that just transpired in the last few sleepless days. She had ran to Vale, no longer associated with the White Fang, only to be chased by said group, who were asking her to join. She managed to escape the group, only to be caught by policemen who had been noted of her presence. Out of the frying pan and into the fire she glumly thought as she had been handcuffed and led to the station. She had been fortunate enough to be questioned by a man who didn't clock her and say: "Faunus scum!" which led to her current predicament.

"Blake Belladonna, age 7, daughter to the former leaders of the White Fang, do you know why you're here?"

Blake visibly deflated, she knew that she had been seen on camera, and there was no escape.

"I didn't know…" she trailed off, still visible wilting under the inspector's gaze.

"Know what, Miss Belladonna?" the person asked, sipping from his mug and adjusting his strange glasses.

"I didn't know there was a bomb in there, I…" She stopped again reproachfully looking at the man.

"Do go on."

Blake was unable to hold back the flood of words from her mouth.

"They told me it was a package of importance, a gift from my parents to the Schnees, so I put it at the entrance and the there was this girl who picked it up after greeting me and then she happily grabbed it, and the next thing I knew there was a large explosion, and there was the smell of blood, mixed with the smell of that girl from earlier, so I ran to the White Fang base, then changed course because they used me! Used me for their own goals, to hurt others… to…" she broke down sobbing, covering her face with her cuffed hands, awaiting the judgement that would come from the man on the other side of the desk.

The man nodded, getting up and walking out the door, white hair illuminated by the light. Now outside of the glass room, he conversed with the local police chief, who had waited impatiently with his foot tapping.

"Well, did you get any answers from her?"

"Indeed, I have reached a conclusion from m conversation."

"Shall I throw her into a cell now?"

"That will not be necessary Robert, I see nothing but a youth who has been betrayed by her own cause, a girl who seeks justice. A perfect candidate for the role I need."

"What, even after all she has done? Property damage, attempted Murder?!" The chief did not agree with the silver haired man's decision.

"Yes, right now she is uncontrollably sobbing at the desk behind me. She has made no attempt to deny the fact that she is responsible for the incident, no doubt feeling guilty about it all."

"…Very well then, I will give you some papers to fill out, and then I will allow you to take her out of the station, but you had better keep an eye on her Ozpin." The police chief left with a huff.

Ozpin watched him go, and entered the room, where Blake sat still awaiting her judgement.

"Miss Belladonna, I have a proposition for you."

Her eyes perked up, and for Blake, this day would be the beginning of many days she would spend, fighting to bring the White fang to its knees, or back into the peaceful organization it once was.

Made some mistakes, had to edit, sorry. Spent 8 hours on this chapter