A thousand thoughts went through her head at once. With every second that passed, Blake found it harder and harder to focus. The noise was only getting louder and louder; she wasn't sure if she could hear Ruby talking anymore. She wasn't even sure if Ruby was saying anything at all.

Blake knew what it looked like. From the look on Ruby's face, so did she.

"Ruby?" she asked again.

Ruby hands were shaking. She stared wide eyed down at the rose petals, not daring to look up at Blake as she did. Her shoes squeaked on the slick floor as she backed up against the wall.

Blake leapt over the puddle of petals and closed the distance between her and Ruby. The girl didn't tear her eyes from the petals even as Blake grabbed her shaking hands. Even under the baggy black sweater, Blake could see the frenzied movement of Ruby's chest. Color was beginning to leave her face as her breath came in shallow and fast.

"Look at me, Ruby," Blake said as she let go of one of Ruby's hands. She pressed her hand to Ruby's cheek and pulled her gaze up from the floor. "Ruby, please. Look at me."

Blake watched silver eyes dart up from the floor. Ruby's eyes stared into Blake's with heavily dilated pupils. A single tear slid down her cheek and over Blake's hand, followed shortly by a flood of tears.

"It's okay," Blake said, wiping Ruby's tears away as best she could. "It's gonna be okay."

Ruby's legs shook and gave out under her. Blake caught her before she fell and lowered her slowly to the floor. She jumped when Ruby wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. Tears soaked Blake's shirt as Ruby pressed her face into her chest.

Blake shifted Ruby onto her lap. She ran a hand through Ruby's hair as the girl's muffled sob rocked her chest.

The absence of a scythe and the presence of rose petals in the armory were telling Blake what happened, spelling it out painfully clear for her. Blake's mind searched for any and every excuse she could think of to refute the obvious. But every step of the way, she found herself finding nothing but dead ends.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Blake spoke the words hoping Ruby would believe them more than she did.

"What do we tell Weiss?"

Still dressed in all black, Ruby at least looked a little more like herself with her tattered cloak turned into a makeshift scarf. A military rifle case was slung over her shoulder.

They had quickly made their exit from the military base and got on the first trolley they could. For better or worse, the armory had no cameras inside. Blake wasn't sure yet if that was in her and Ruby's favor or not.

Ruby wobbled on her feet. The trolley car rattled on the tracks more and more as they got further from the wealthier parts of Argus. Blake could see Ruby's knuckles going white as she gripped ever tighter to the pole next to Blake's seat.

"What do I tell Weiss-"

"Nothing," Blake said. "We don't have to tell her anything."

The girl looked down at Blake, with red eyes that had dark bags under them.

"Ruby, I…" Blake faltered. "You haven't done anything wrong."

"But-"

"No 'buts,'" Blake said. "I know you didn't do it, because I know you. We're going to figure out what's going on. We're going to be alright."

Ruby leaned forward, pressing her forehead to the stanchion. She offered a weak smile to Blake.

Blake reached out and grabbed Ruby's hand. She ran her thumb over the back of her hand, exploring the mess of scars that seemed to grow messier after every fight. For a while, they stayed like that; silent but for the idle chatter of the other passengers and noise of the trolley.

This was new to her. Spending moments like this with Ruby, despite how long they'd known each other now. Not that Blake didn't like Ruby or enjoy being around her. It was more that she'd spent so much of their shared time distracted by things. Adam. Yang. School. The White Fang. Weiss.

With all her distractions destroyed or gone, Blake finally had the time to get to know the woman in red who's been such a big part of her life. She only wished it came under better circumstances.

In a way, it scared her to see Ruby like this. She was scared and confused like Blake had felt so many times. By never getting closer to Ruby, Blake had allowed herself to picture her as the young prodigious warrior that never faltered. She let respect fester in the gaps in their relationship until she nearly forgot that Ruby was just fallible and human as she was.

But in holding the crying girl at night, comforting her through nightmares, she saw a girl she'd never seen before. That morning, while Ruby lay there naked and covered in mud, Blake saw far too much of herself in her. In over her head and facing the consequences of her own actions.

She'd yet to determine if she found Ruby's humanity comforting or terrifying, but the intimacy of being shown this side of her friend was not lost on her. And by the way that Ruby's hand held tight to hers there on that trolley, Blake could see the intimacy was not lost on Ruby either.

A vibrating in her pocket pulled Blake from her thoughts. She pulled her Scroll from her pocket with her free hand and answered it without even looking.

"Weiss?"

Ruby's grip tightened when she heard the name.

"Not quite," Cordovan said. "Where are you right now?"

Blake shook her head for Ruby before speaking. The girl's features relaxed, but her grip on Blake's hand did not.

"We're heading to the address you gave us," Blake said. "Have you heard from Weiss?"

"No, no," Cordovan said. "I was going to ask you the same thing. No matter, you can continue on without her. While you're doing this, keep in mind that this is to remain a covert operation. The military has no involvement in this."

"You already told us that," Blake said.

"Yes I know, but I felt it was worth repeating," Cordovan said. "When you arrive, you will find that the entire portion of the West End neighborhood has been evacuated. If anyone sees you or asks about it, you tell them there was a gas leak and you're both inspectors."

"Got it."

"Good."

"Anything else?"

Cordovan was silent for a while, until she let out a barely perceptible sigh.

"No, that's all," she said. "Good luck, Belladonna."

Blake heard a click on the other line as Cordovan hung up. As she looked at her Scroll's screen just before it went dark again, something occurred to her.

"I think it is you, Ruby."

Ruby's eyes went wide and she pulled her hand from Blake's.

"I don't mean that you've actually done anything," Blake said. "I think it's supposed to be you."

"What do you mean," Ruby said, still stepping back from Blake.

"I mean," Blake said. "I think you're being framed. I think we're being framed."

Ruby moved slowly back toward Blake, clearly perplexed by Blake's suggestion.

"Ruby, I don't think we were supposed to come back from those woods."

Blake was certain of her theory. Ruby was not.

As they walked through the empty streets of the West End, Ruby couldn't help but think about turning herself in now before Blake dragged herself further down the rabbit hole. Her theory was flimsy and lacked the evidence to back it up.

"I just don't understand why," Ruby said. "Why would Cordovan want to frame us?"

"Why wouldn't she?" Blake said as she stepped carefully around potholes. "Since day one she hasn't wanted us here. The Colony Grimm was the perfect opportunity for her. If we kill it and return, she learns about it. If we died out there, then her connection to us would preserve the memory of it and she'd be rid of us. No matter what happened, she would still get what she wanted."

That much made sense to Ruby, but framing her still seemed a bit too far of a reach. She thought that Blake knew she did it and was trying desperately to search for any other explanation. Ruby truly wished she believed the alternatives as much as Blake did.

"It should be just around the corner up here," Blake said.

The West End of Argus was among the poorer areas of the city. The old Argus style houses had been largely converted to duplex units and most of the original owners were still living there. It had the oldest population of any neighborhood in Argus and appeared to be nearly forgotten by time. Potholes littered the road that sat in darkness without the residents there to light the candle lit street lamps.

Several blinding spot lights had been erected around a large tented section of the street. The light reflected off the vinyl tarps and cast the decaying buildings in a ghostly blue. It made for a very strange sight, Ruby thought, to see all this sterile and new military equipment set up between housing that probably cost a fraction as much.

Ruby and Blake made their way towards the tents. The familiar scent of rotting plants was evident the moment they arrived, but it grew stronger the closer they got. It was almost unbearable by the time they were standing just outside the zippered section of tarp that was the entrance.

Ruby thought for a moment that she should just turn and leave now. She fell just behind Blake, slowing to a stop as she stared at that jagged silver line that was the only thing left between her and the carnage beyond.

It wasn't until Blake wrapped a hand around hers that she realized she'd been clenching her fists so tightly. She unclenched her fist and felt the cold air sting her palm where her nails dug into her skin. Blake intertwined her fingers with hers and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"It's going to be okay," Blake said. "You're going to be okay. I promise."

Ruby nodded slowly. She took in a long, deep breath and let it go after a few seconds.

Blake reached out and pulled the zipper down on the tent entrance. A rush of rotting stench wafted through the opening. It was a smell that Ruby was all to familiar with, but it still made her gag as it burned in her nose and throat. Blake recoiled from the smell, turning away from the opening as she coughed.

Ruby stepped forward and pulled the zipper the rest of the way. She pulled a still coughing Blake inside with her.

Inside the tent, hanging lamps cast long shadows with edges softened by the giant lights outside. The walls of the tent and the few supports were crawling with vines and mold. Along the stretch of road contained within, weeds and fungus erupted through cracks in the pavement and sidewalk. The whole scene was all too familiar to Ruby and Blake, but with several new additions.

Arranged in a circular shape in the middle of the road were bodies. Five of them arranged purposely and carefully, with streaks of dried blood around them. Each was grey skinned and split open in different ways, but it wasn't blood or organs that spilled out.

The sight of it was nauseating. Hundreds of mushrooms coiled and sprung out from the cuts, pushing the slits open even further and inflating the bodies.

Ruby could see Blake's face growing pale as she looked at it. She moved slowly over to the bodies, keeping a hand over her mouth as she studied the scene.

"I see what Cordovan meant now," Blake said, her voice muffled by her hand. "This is very public. And deliberate."

"Why were they arranged like this?" Ruby asked.

"To send a message?"

"What message?"

"I'm not sure yet," Blake said. "But this is a good sign so far."

Ruby's jaw dropped as she stared at Blake.

"How is this good?" Ruby asked. "These people are dead!"

"Yes and their bodies were arranged into some gross display," Blake said. "That's an intelligent, if very evil, decision. That means we're dealing with a person; just a regular old killer. Even the most evil of people are predictable. Monolithic Grimm monstrosities are not."

Blake must have thought this would comfort Ruby somehow, but all it did was remind her that she was a person. A regular old killer.

The faunus grunted as lowered herself down to get a closer look. She used the end of her crutch to part the mushrooms growing out of the body.

"Aside from the strange growth," she said. "This looks like your average cut from a blade. And it looks like..."

Blake trailed off, her eyes darting to another body. She shoved the crutch down, trying to push herself back to her feet. The crutch wobbled on the uneven pavement and her good leg slipped out from under her. Frustration grew on her face as she fell back on her behind on the pavement.

Ruby moved to her side and offered a hand to her friend. Blake smiled weakly as she let Ruby lift her back to her feet. She quickly brushed the dirt off her pants while Ruby picked her crutch up off the ground.

"Thanks," Blake said. "I'm still trying to get the hang of this."

Ruby looked down at the metal brace on Blake's leg and the deep red scar on her thigh. Her memory of it was hazy, but she still heard Blake's screams in nightmares. The sound of her friend crying out in pain as she-

"Hey."

For a moment, she'd felt like she was back in the forest again, but a hand on her cheek pulled her back to reality. Blake's eyes searched hers, seeing right through any lie or deflections that Ruby might try and offer her.

"It's not your fault," Blake said. "Don't ever think it was your fault. You hear me?"

Ruby nodded.

"Good," Blake said. "And don't you dare go feeling sorry for me either. I may walk with a limp, but I could still kick anyone's ass that would try and hurt us. And that includes you. So be nice to yourself."

"Okay, okay!" Ruby said. "Geez, you sound like Yang."

"Thank you," Blake said. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Blake moved her hand from Ruby's cheek to her head, ruffling her hair as she walked past her. She leaned over on her crutch, squinting her eyes at the wounds on another body.

"There's bullet wounds on this one," she said. "I can't tell from what, though. You're better with weapons than I am, Ruby. Can you take a look?"

Ruby walked to Blake's side and knelt by the body. Sure enough, hidden beneath several layers of mushrooms, were a number of bullet holes in the chest of the victim. The entry wound was rather large, but still clean enough to give her an idea of what made it.

"Looks like a high caliber rifle round," she said. "Probably from a precision rifle or maybe even a heavy machine gun type of weapon. Or a sniper scythe…"

Blake was probably glaring at Ruby then, but she ignored her. Ruby lifted the body up and looked at the back. Aside from blood and dirt from the pavement, the back was clean of bullet wounds.

"Hollow point rounds," Ruby said as she set the body back down. "That's pretty standard issue for military and huntsmen use, which you know already. I was hoping for more exit wounds, at least then we could potentially rule out some suspects."

"What do you make of how they're arranged?" Blake asked. "Anything familiar about it? It just looks like a messy circle to me."

"Messy circle?" Ruby said with a chuckle. "That's not very detective-like of you."

"Okay then, Detective Rose," Blake said. "What do you surmise?"

"I surmise…"

Ruby tilted her head every which way as she circled the formation of bodies. Despite all the angles and directions she looked at it, she was having trouble coming up with anything better than Blake's 'messy circle.'

Her foot slipped on something slick. She looked down and saw a puddle of blood under her shoe. Her heart sank as remembered what it was she was even looking at. After so long of looking at it for clues and answers, she'd begun to let herself forget that it was people.

Carefully she lifted her foot from the blood, but in doing so she noticed something. The blood she'd stepped on seemed like it was spread across the ground. Almost like it was used as paint.

"Uh oh," she said, catching Blake's attention.

Blake rushed to her side, only for Ruby to shove the now empty rifle bag in her arms.

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"I think we gotta see the bigger picture here," Ruby said. "Literally, I mean."

Ruby reached a hand into the rifle bag in Blake's arms, pulling out a bayonet that she fastened to the gun. The gun itself was a lever action rifle with a large scope.

"Put that bag down and give me a hand," Ruby said.

Blake barely had time to set the bag aside before a section of tarp fell down on her following a loud ripping noise.

Ruby jumped and continued to slice the roof of the tent open with the bayonet until a large opening was left. Through the gap, she focused on the roof of the nearest apartment building.

"This should do it," she said. "I'll be right back, okay?"

A hand shot out from under a giant pile of tarp, following a muffled groan and thumbs up that Ruby took to mean 'okay.'

She took a deep breath and activated her semblance.

What used to be a rush of rose scented air that carried her along, had changed to something more rotten. No longer did she float like petals on a pleasant wind. Instead she moved like a coagulated mass of oil that crawled and lept along its path, pushed by a nauseating wave.

It may have been an accident by which she covered Blake with the shredded tarp, but she was glad for a moment that Blake wouldn't see her move like this.

Moving quickly, Ruby slipped under the tent wall and crept up the brick wall of the apartment building. Tendrils of her writhing mass ventured out along the lines in the brick and rattled unlocked windows as she climbed.

Moments later she 'reassembled' herself on the roof. Her stomach lurched as she reacquainted herself with gravity. Bile rose up in her throat and the rush of sour taste nearly made her lose the rest of her stomach contents. She bit her cheek and swallowed the bile as the nausea resided.

Down below, Blake finally managed to crawl out from under the pile of tarp just as Ruby peered over the edge. Blake shot Ruby another thumbs up, but her hand fell slowly and a frown crept onto her face.

Ruby was pale as a ghost as she looked over the shape made by the bodies below. That bile she'd swallowed seconds ago quickly rushed back up into her mouth. She did not stop it this time.

She could only just make out the sound of Blake shouting up at her over the noise of her retching. Every time the waves of vomit started to slow, she looked again at the shape below and started the cycle anew.

This went on long enough that Ruby didn't stop until Blake thundered out from the roof door behind her. The faunus moved quickly and without her crutch, only just reaching Ruby in time to catch her as she fell.

Ruby collapsed into Blake's arms, sobbing as the image of it flashed through her mind over and over. She hugged Blake's form tight, shoving her face deep into the girl's chest and soaking her sweater with tears. No matter how close she got to Blake and how tightly she shut her eyes, the image did not fade.

Her body shifted with Blake's as the faunus peered over the edge to look at it. With her face tight to Blake's chest, Ruby could hear her heart rate quicken and her breath hitch when she saw it. She fell back down slowly, wrapping both arms around Ruby and pressing her even closer.

They stayed like this for a long time. Neither was ready yet to talk about the giant rose painted with blood and bodies on the street below.

The elderly man at the counter was the only one that knew they were there.

In a former financial district just south of the West End neighborhood, Blake and Ruby found a run down motel. The only residents other than them and the old man appeared to be only a few working women. Blake felt comfortable in assuming that they weren't about to rat them out any time soon.

Ruby had been quiet ever since their 'investigation,' but then Blake hadn't exactly been pushing her talk about it. Which was fine with Blake, because she wasn't even sure what to make of it yet.

There was no mistaking the shape that the bodies formed. Had she not been so busy being horrified by it, she might have been impressed by how faithfully Ruby's rose emblem had been recreated in gore.

So badly she wanted to believe that Ruby hadn't done it, but the evidence had been pointing to her since the minute they started looking. The missing Crescent Rose. The blade and bullet wounds that are not dissimilar to something Crescent Rose would inflict. Ruby's previous night and subsequent mess only added to the mystery.

Pair all of that with Ruby's unstable mental state since returning from the forest and her violent behavior in the forest, it would seem to almost be-

"Too perfect."

Ruby rolled over on the bed, looking up at Blake with puffy, red eyes.

"You have to be being framed," Blake said. "The evidence is just too perfect. Too obvious. There's no other way to explain how perfectly everything is coming together."

"I can think of one…"

Blake turned around to see Ruby's reaction, but found the girl had rolled back over and was looking away. She sighed and crawled across the bed to lay next to Ruby. She leaned over Ruby's side, trying to get a look at her face.

"We're going to figure this out," Blake said. "We're going to figure out who did this and clear your name before anyone even gets the chance to accuse you."

Ruby tilted her face into the pillow, avoiding Blake's gaze ever more.

"Talk to me, Ruby," Blake said. "What are you thinking about?"

Ruby stayed silent. Blake reached her arm over and lifted her chin up toward her.

The youthful girl she once knew was gone and in her place was a woman that was a little older and a lot more tired. Blake could see the first hint of wrinkles on her skin and deep bags under her eyes. She ran her thumb over lips, feeling how chapped and dry they were.

"You have to talk to me," Blake said. "I'm not going to read your mind or guess how you're feeling."

"What if you're right? What if it is Cordovan?" Ruby said quietly. "What if it is the military trying to frame me? What then?"

Blake hadn't thought of that. What would she do if she was right after all?

"Are you really going to take on the entire military by yourself? Even if you could do that, would you really fight and kill the very people trying to save Atlas from Salem right now? Just for me?"

"Ruby…"

Blake placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, squeezing it softly.

"I would fight Salem by myself," Blake said. "I would fight the whole world to protect you if I had to."

"What if I don't want you to?"

Ruby pulled her shoulder forward away from Blake's hand. She buried her face into the pillow and pulled her legs up to her chest. Blake watched Ruby shrink on the bed next to her, letting her hand hover hesitantly over her for a moment.

"Then I won't," Blake said. "But then Yang will. And Weiss. And your dad, probably. Zwei might even get in on it too."

Ruby's head shifted on the pillow, but she still wouldn't look at Blake.

"Take it from someone who has had to learn this the hard way," Blake said. "You have people who love you very much. Nothing you do will change that. Whether you like it or not, they would cross the mountains crumbling at the end of the world just to protect you."

Twice Yang had done that very thing for Blake. For a time, she couldn't fathom the depths of her stupidity for doing so. What about her could have possibly been worth it? She certainly never felt worthy of it. But sitting there looking at Ruby in her darkest moment, Blake couldn't seem to think of a single reason why she shouldn't do the very same.

It was funny, she thought, that in leaving Yang she found the greater understanding of her she'd been searching for.

"But why-"

"Don't try to find reason where there is none," Blake said. "Trust me, you'll only drive yourself crazy. There is no reason in love. It's the best and the worst thing about it."

Ruby was silent again for a while. When she spoke again, it was little more than a whisper. "I'm scared."

"Me too."

"I'm afraid t-that…" Ruby faltered, her voice starting to crack. "I'm afraid that you'll hurt me. That Weiss will hurt me."

"No, Ruby-"

"I'm afraid I deserve it."

The pain in her leg faded for a moment as Blake climbed over the bed to Ruby. The girl finally looked up at her with a steady stream of tears pouring from silver eyes. Blake ran her hand over her cheeks, wiping away tears only for more to take their place a second later.

"I am never going to hurt you," Blake said, feeling her own voice threaten to crack. "Never. Weiss would never hurt you."

"H-how do you know?"

"Because Weiss loves you to the end of the world and back again," Blake said. "Her thoughts and her dreams belong to you and you only. Everything else is second only to you. Everyone else."

The first of her own tears ran down her cheek and fell onto Ruby's face below. She tried to stay stoic for Ruby, but found herself just as undone at the girl beneath her.

"B-but I thought she-" Ruby said through sobs. "Weren't you and her…?"

"I was just a substitute for you," Blake said. "She needed company. She wanted your company, but was afraid of hurting you. I was just a convenient space filler to keep her sane until you were better. Even when I was there, she talked about you. It was always you, Ruby. You're the one she actually loves, not me."

"She never told me-"

"I know."

Blake shifted back against the headboard of the bed. While wiping tears from her face, she rolled Ruby over onto her lap to do the same for her. Ruby wrapped a hand around Blake's and pulled it close as she continued to cry.

Quietly, so Ruby wouldn't hear, Blake said something to herself.

"She told me…"