Review Responses:

To Echo, thanks for the review, and the kind words. I won't say much about this story's lack of attention (though it does do a bit better on AO3), but I'm glad you're enjoying the characters and setting, which as a writer, is obviously more important to me anyway. Magic being gone was a pretty early decision if I recall, both to make it feel like Salem's defeat had some consequence, and to take advantages like Maiden powers away from our heroes. Good to hear the pacing is working for you, though my inner critic keeps me from agreeing that's it's as good as you say. That said, I'm really glad that you picked up on how Ruby is more herself around Weiss! That should come more into play in the next couple chapters...

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. Please support the official release.

Chapter 8

"Just hang tight, Kiddo."

"Okay..." Ruby whispered, not quite sure what the sense of urgency was for. After all, the pain in her right leg had faded away. Granted, she couldn't really feel her leg at all by this point, but that might have been just down to how light-headed she suddenly felt.

She chanced a glance at the gash on her outer thigh, but didn't have a good view of it at the moment. Eyeing the blood on Qrow's arms and shirt, however, she found herself questioning if the cut wasn't as shallow as she thought it was.

Either way, her line of thought was interrupted by Qrow kicking open the door to the nurse's office and rushing inside. Signal's nurse, a nice lady named Dorothea who Ruby had gotten to know very well since starting school there, stood up as they crossed the room.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"She burned through her aura during training," Qrow answered as he set Ruby down on one of the room's beds. "She snagged herself on the last drill."

Dorothea knelt down next to Ruby, using a towel to put pressure on the wound. "How does a training scythe 'snag' someone this badly?"

"It doesn't," Qrow said under his breath. Ruby rarely saw her uncle upset, and never liked it when she did.

Dorothea shook her head. "Just hand me the peroxide on the counter over there."

Qrow turned and reached for bottle, but as he stepped back towards them, the peroxide slipped out of his hand. The container hit the floor, with the cap somehow managing to come off on impact.

"Dammit!" Qrow yelled as he tried to pick up the bottle, finding it had already been emptied out.

Ruby tried to lift her head. "Is that bad?"

"No, honey, I just..." Dorothea took a second to look around the room. "...need something else to disinfect the cut."

"Move over," Qrow said suddenly before kneeling down next to Ruby. He stuck a hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out his flask.

"Why is that on school property?" Dorothea questioned.

"It won't be for much longer." Qrow looked directly at Ruby as he slowly unscrewed the cap. "This is gonna sting a bit, Kiddo, so get ready."

Ruby only nodded as a reply, then waited for her uncle poor out whatever weird-smelling liquid was inside the flask. It made contact with her cut, and while she would never be dramatic enough to call the "sting" that came with it the worst pain she had ever felt, it did cause her to hiss under her breath. If nothing else, she was definitely more awake and aware than she had been a few seconds ago.

"Will that do the trick?" Qrow asked the nurse.

Dorothea rolled her eyes. "I guess so. Just keep pressure on this." She walked to the other side of the room and started putting some supplies together.

Ruby turned to Qrow, only to find her mentor was avoiding eye-contact with her. She couldn't understand why, as he had had nothing to do with her accident. He had explained and even demonstrated the technique she had been attempting, and had even walked her through some safety tips to avoid an incident like this one. If anyone had been at fault, it had been her for not being able to follow through with the lesson.

A lump formed in Ruby's throat, as the thought lingered in her head. Was he disappointed with her for messing up? The thought didn't fit, as Qrow had never treated her like this when she had made a mistake in the past. Granted, she had never suffered an injury like this one before, but she supposed that had been the trade-off from switching from a training scythe to an actual one.

Another lump came, this time with realization. Qrow was upset with her, though not because she messed up. It because of the reason why she had messed up.

"I'm sorry," Ruby croaked.

Qrow lifted his eyes, surprise on his face. "For what?"

"I wasn't ready for the switch over from the training scythe, but I was excited and didn't want to listen to you when you said to wait a little longer, so I kept pushing."

"None of that's on you, Ruby. I'm your..." Qrow paused and looked away for a second. "I'm your teacher, and I shouldn't have you let you make that decision. This whole mess is my fault."

"No, Uncle Qrow-"

"Okay," Dorothea said as she returned to their side, tray of medical supplies in hand. "I can stitch you up and your aura should do the rest once you've had a chance to rest. Can't promise there won't be a scar, though."

As she started to work, Qrow stood up and moved to the opposite side of the room.

"And after that, we can get back to training," Ruby said quickly, not wanting her mentor to pull away. "I think I know where I went wrong earlier."

"Right..." Qrow looked down at the ground. "Thing is, I might have another mission coming up, so we're probably gonna have to hold off on that."

"When you get back, then?" Ruby refused to let this be the end of her training.

"Maybe," Qrow replied, that single word hurting more than he probably realized. "We'll talk about it later. Meanwhile, I gotta call your dad and let him know what happened."

Qrow walked out of the office, leaving Ruby to wonder if there was anything she could do to change his mind. Nothing came to mind, though, and her current state meant she couldn't follow him either. In the end, all she really could do was sit there and try to hold back her tears.

Ruby couldn't cry. She couldn't explain it, but the grief and sadness just couldn't find its way to the surface. Instead, she just sat there, on top of one of the inn's beds with her knees pulled up to her chest.

Part of her wondered if this was just how she coped with losing a parent. After all, she couldn't recall with any certainty that she had cried upon hearing about her mother's passing. Growing up, yes, she did so on plenty of occasions, but she had next to no recollection of being told her mother was missing and was never going to return home.

Ruby held her legs tighter against herself.

The more she sat there, however, the more she realized that it was more than grief that she was feeling. A familiar clenching formed in her chest, the same pain she felt whenever her feelings of emptiness and loneliness decided to come crashing down on her.

She felt helpless, like everything that was important to her was slipping away and there was nothing she could do to hold onto them. For a second, she even found herself asking what was wrong with her, and why her life had broken down the way it had.

Except that Ruby already knew the reason. The reason why her own father had chosen leave and not look back, just like her mother had. The reason the rest of her team had gone their separate ways and stayed far away from her. The reason why everyone else seemed so content to just leave her to her demons.

She had failed them. Ruby had stopped trying to deny it a long time ago. She wasn't the huntress and leader they needed her to be anymore. She couldn't be, not after all the choices she had made during the war.

Without putting much thought into it, Ruby stood up, knowing she couldn't stay in this room for much longer without drowning in all the emotions she was and wasn't feeling at the moment. With only one goal in mind, she walked to and opened the door.

She stepped past Weiss and Yang, refusing to look directly at either of them as she committed to where she would be going next.

"Ruby..." Weiss said softly. Ruby didn't need to turn around to know that her partner had stood up and was reaching out to her.

I'm sorry, Ruby thought as she triggered her semblance and left the inn.

Qrow sat perfectly still, doing his best to ignore the finger being repeatedly poked into his cheek. He didn't so much as glance to his left, where he would have seen his late partner hunched over and likely staring daggers at him in addition to the aforementioned poking. His hope was that if he just ignored his current hallucination, it would eventually go away.

Then, without so much as a sound or warning, the poking ceased. Qrow was tempted to look to left, with the only thing keeping him from caving being how determined he was to not acknowledge his delusion. Still, some worry crept its way into his mind, likely spawned from the knowledge that the real Summer Rose wouldn't have given up on getting his attention so easily. Qrow considered turning his head one last time, but by this point, he was already to late.

Again, without a sound or warning, the finger that had been previously prodding him returned to his personal space, this time moving much faster as well as making direct contact with his left eye.

Qrow jumped to his feet, clutching his face in pain. "You brat!"

He finally looked at his attacker, who not only seemed to have zero remorse on her face, but was almost giddy due to her recent victory.

"And Summer Rose clenches the win!" the ghost or hallucination or whatever she was called out as she raised her fists into the air. "That'll teach you to pretend I don't exist!"

"You don't exist!" Qrow snapped back.

Summer's smile disappeared. "Wanna bet? You've got two eyes, Branwen."

Qrow hesitated before responding. "Don't you have an escape plan to concoct?"

Summer crossed her arms. "Well, it's hard to concentrate over the sound of your brooding."

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "The sound of me brooding?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"It's loud and obnoxious and, quite frankly, very unattractive."

Qrow rolled his eyes, knowing that this wasn't an argument he was going to win. "Yeah, well, it's not like there's a lot of options for getting out of here."

Summer didn't reply right away, instead taking a couple seconds to look between Qrow and the barrier blocking the exit. She sighed and shook her head.

"Maybe we should just sit tight and wait for now."

"Wait for what?"

Summer looked directly at him, eyes wide and sincere. "Ruby's coming, remember?"

"We don't know that for sure." Qrow scratched the back of his neck, taking a second to look at the cell's barrier himself. "Besides, I'm kinda hoping to sort this out before it comes to that."

Summer eyed him closer. "And why's that?"

"Because..." Qrow had to pause, though wasn't exactly sure why. "They know she's coming, and I don't want her walking into an ambush."

"Is that the only reason?"

Qrow shook his head. "Don't start."

"Why not?" Summer gestured to the room around them. "It's not like you have anything else to do but talk."

Qrow thought about it for second, and couldn't help but laugh. "You know, that's a great idea, actually. If any of them come down here and see me arguing with myself, maybe they'll get scared of catching cabin fever and just throw me outta here."

He looked to Summer for a reaction, finding her looking down at the floor. Something about what he had just said had upset her, and whether it had been the words themselves or something related to them, that fact alone made him feel like human garbage.

"Look, Qrow..." Summer took a second to pull back her hood. "I know I'm not alive anymore."

"Hey, tell that to my eye," Qrow replied quickly. Real or not, he hated seeing her like this.

"Just shut up and listen, Bird Brain," she snapped back at him, getting some of her fire back. "Maybe I'm here so you can finally talk about what happened that day."

"What's left to talk about?"

"What it did to our daughter."

Qrow looked away. "You mean what I did to her."

Summer did her best to step into his eye-line. "What happened that day wasn't either of your faults."

"Wasn't it? The day I agreed to train her, she said she wanted to be just like you." Qrow paused, looking down at his own hands. "Instead, I made her just like me."

"So what?" Summer placed a hand on his forearm. "As far I'm concerned, the good outweighs the bad by a long shot."

"Doesn't always feel that way." Qrow pulled away from Summer and returned to his spot on the floor.

"When are you gonna drop the 'Bad Luck Charm' shtick?"

Qrow stayed quiet, mainly because his semblance was not the deciding factor here. Despite how it hung over him, it had only ever hurt anyone when coupled his own bad decisions. If wartime had shown him anything, it was that he was more than capable of causing pain for his family and friends all on his own, and there was nothing Summer could say that would convince him otherwise.

Of course, even if he had said all of that out loud, that wouldn't have stopped her from trying. He heard Summer sit down next to him, though she stayed quiet for the time being, which was likely her compromise between them taking a break from the conversation and letting him know she wasn't going anywhere.

Having her back, even in this abnormal capacity, was a comfort. A comfort that made him question his sanity, of course, but a comfort nonetheless. The only standing issue was that he wasn't convinced that comfort was what he deserved.

Greger carefully cleaned the barrel of his pistol, ensuring that no spot on it was left untouched. While he had not had any problems with its performance during the last fight, he didn't want any unexpected issues with it moving forward. Also, it served as a means to center his thoughts, something made more necessary by his sister's current state.

Sitting on her bunk not more than a few feet from his own, Hana pulled apart a couple guns from her collection. Her methods were more erratic, however, indicating that her goals had less to do with maintenance and more with her own growing restlessness. She was getting ready to snap.

"I'm done with this!" Hana proclaimed as she stood up. In the same motion, she lowered herself to the floor and began fishing for something under the bunk.

"What are you doing?" Greger asked, though he had his suspicions.

"Going out." Hana punctuated her statement by pulling out the duffle which held a number of her personal belongings. From it, she took out her civilian attire.

"Father told us to stay here."

"No, he told us not to draw more attention to ourselves. He gave no specific instructions other than that."

"Leaving the airship is a bad idea regardless."

Hana shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

She left the room, leaving Greger to decide if he should follow.

He had little doubt that his sister would go looking for Team RWBY. Whether it was to seek out another fight or for some other purpose, he couldn't be sure, but he knew there would be ramifications if Hana let her over-eagerness get the better of her. Thinking about it, he even wondered if that was exactly what she deserved.

This line of thought ended with the memory of the airship's crew, and how Hana's poor judgment had required that fight to end. Holzfäller's civilians would get caught in the crossfire this time, and Greger didn't want to risk that happening.

He set his sidearm down before going under his bunk looking for a change of clothes.

Conversation was nonexistent as Blake and Raven made their way back to the inn, with the silence between them only emphasized by the mostly empty streets around them. Night had just about fallen, and the town's residents had mostly gotten off the streets. Blake wondered if sticking to the indoors at this time was merely custom for the people of Holzfäller, or a precaution brought on by the Grimm attack it had suffered during the war.

Whichever was the answer, Blake decided to label the silence as a positive. Not only did she enjoy the quiet more often than not, but she also had no desire to speak to the bandit she was currently walking alongside. If she was being honest with herself, she was actually counting down the seconds until they reached their destination.

The only thing keeping Blake from immediately breaking off from Raven upon crossing through the inn's threshold was Tai, who was obviously waiting for their return. The concern on his face also confirmed that he had some information that he needed to relay to them.

"Find anything?" Tai asked, though with no real expectation in his voice.

Raven shook her head. "You?"

"I took another lap around the town, but still no one's talking." Tai paused to look around the lobby, a gesture which Blake would have called paranoia if not for personal experience. "It's almost like no one wants to talk."

"Then it sounds like we'll have to be a bit more direct." Raven placed a hand on the hilt of her sword.

Tai raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"

"Probably better you don't."

"Thought as much."

Raven eyed him a little closer. "Something else is bothering you."

"Ruby took off." Tai seemed to look right past the two of them. "We're not sure where yet."

"Not surprising," Raven commented without anything resembling guilt. "Her parents never handled loss very well either."

Tai turned his attention back to Raven, taking a couple seconds before replying. "Weiss is out looking for her right now. Hopefully we'll hear something soon."

"And Yang?" Blake asked on instinct.

Tai gestured upstairs. "Trying to get her arm working again. She'll probably be heading out too as soon as she's finished."

"What about you?" Raven questioned, almost as though she knew the answer.

"I don't know," Tai answered, eyes finding their way to the ceiling. "I want to be there for her, but I feel like she could use some space right now."

"It has to be one or the other, Tai." Raven moved closer, though still stayed at arms length. "Hovering in between won't help either of you."

"I guess not..."

Blake moved away from them, partly because she knew this wasn't a conversation she should be a part of, but mainly because she knew where she needed to be. Her teammate was missing, and she was the best suited to find her. There was really only one thing up for consideration.

Looking up the stairs, Blake wasn't sure if stopping to check on Yang first would do more harm than good. Were it for anyone but Ruby, she might have left the inn right then and there, but that wasn't the scenario they found themselves in. Yang could and would always put personal vendettas aside for her sister, so Blake had no excuse for avoiding her in this instance.

She moved upstairs and down the hall, eventually coming to the three rooms the group was renting. Yang's grumbling and fussing over her prosthetic told her which door to open. She stepped through the doorway just in time to see Yang lose her grip on her screwdriver and watch it roll across the floor.

Yang turned her head around just as Blake picked the tool up, an action that was followed by the two of them locking eyes. They held completely still for a few seconds, during which Blake gleamed everything she needed to. While Yang's eyes didn't hide the the distress she was currently feeling, they didn't show any sign of the anger that had been dominating her before.

Blake closed the distance between them. "Move over."

"Why?" Yang arched an eyebrow, in a manner not dissimilar from how her father had a few moments ago.

"You're doing it wrong." Blake gestured to the prosthetic on the desk Yang had been using as a workstation.

"I think I know how my own arm works."

"And somehow you're still struggling."

Yang held her gaze on Blake for another second before standing up. Blake instantly replaced her in the chair.

Blake had never been an expert mechanic or weaponsmith, with her usually deferring those titles and responsibilities to Ruby and Yang. She made one exception to this rule, going out of her way to learn and memorize the specifications of the prosthetic arm laid out in front of her. It was more than just a tool Yang used in a fight; it was a part of her, and Blake could never have been an effective partner to Yang if she didn't learn to care for it the same way she did for the person attached to it.

Inspecting the damage, it took Blake only seconds to assess what the issue was. While Yang had seemed focused on the physical damage her opponent's weapons had done to the arm, she had mostly ignored how the shock she had received had affected the internal wiring. As it was, it likely wasn't receiving the electrical impulses that Yang's body sent out in order for it to seamlessly operate as a part of her being.

An obvious oversight as far as Blake was concerned, though knowing how distracted Yang had been as of late, she kept the thought to herself. Instead, she picked up a pair of pliers from the desk and continued working.

"I don't want to fight," Yang said after a few minutes of silence.

Blake turned to her left, where Yang leaned against a wall, watching her work. She took a heartbeat to consider her response, not wanting to say the wrong thing and make Yang's gesture meaningless. From very early on in their partnership, Blake had picked up on how Yang put on a lot faces to hide how she felt, both for her own benefit and for team morale. When she was open and vulnerable like she was being at the moment, the last thing Blake wanted to do was give her an excuse to put her mask back on.

"Neither do I," Blake replied, making sure to make eye-contact as she spoke.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier," Yang continued slowly, likely picking and choosing her words as well. "I was jealous and upset, but that doesn't excuse racism."

Blake paused again. While she had been upset by Yang's earlier words, she never thought of her teammate as any kind of bigot. Yang never judged based on what she saw on the surface, always more interested in the individual underneath. For better or worse, "human" and "faunus" were useless labels in her mind.

Looking back objectively, this was likely one of the reasons that Blake had fallen in love with her.

Snapping back to reality, Blake turned her attention back to her work. She closed the panel she had been working on and presented the arm to its owner. Yang slowly attached it, and after giving it a second to come back to life, flexed her fingers to affirm that the repairs had taken.

"I forgive you," Blake said, plainly and honestly so that no meaning would be lost in communication. "Now for Ruby."

Yang nodded, a mutual agreement passing between them in that moment. For the time being, nothing else needed to be said.

Weiss dialed Ruby's scroll again, only to be sent directly to voicemail a second time. Not that she had expected a different result, with the attempt more to make her feel like she was making every effort to find her partner. She looked around the street she had stopped on to make the call, seeing no sign of Team RWBY's wayward leader. With another deep breath, she kept moving.

As the worry began to set in, Weiss tried reminding herself that Ruby had no clues as to where to start looking for Hazel. Granted, Ruby's emotional state meant she likely wasn't thinking clearly, but Weiss hoped she would maintain at least enough judgment to not put herself in danger.

Weiss tried and failed to not blame herself for Ruby leaving, her mind instantly flashing back to the argument they had had a few hours earlier. While she had been okay with Ruby being upset with her, she hadn't anticipated that her actions would cause Ruby to isolate herself from the rest of the team. If she ended up hurting herself or worse, Weiss wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

Weiss paused as she reached a street corner. At the very least, she blamed herself for not having learned more about Holzfäller upon their arrival, which might have narrowed down her current search a bit. At the present, she was systematically ducking her head into every building that loosely resembled a bar or tavern, knowing that it was possible and also likely that Ruby had ended up in one of those establishments.

Continuing her search, Weiss considered calling Blake or Yang for help. The former's tracking abilities would have been helpful, and at the very least she could also use an extra set of eyes. Weiss slowed her a pace by a hair, also realizing that she had no idea what she would say Ruby if she did find her, or if Ruby would even hear her out if she did.

A loud crashing noise snapped Weiss out of her current line of thought. She looked to her left, finding a bar with a small pile of wilted rose pedals at the entrance. Taking a second before entering, Weiss wasn't sure if she was upset about her partner's continued destructive behavior, or just relieved that she had found her. She ended up choosing the relief, knowing that the feeling likely wouldn't last once she stepped inside.

As Weiss walked through the entrance she considered how she would handle the situation. Logically, the best course of action would be to speak honestly and be supportive, to let Ruby know she wanted to help in any way she could.

Or, since logic had never been a driving force in their relationship in the past, she could just kill the girl for making her worry so much.

Author's Note:

One of the side effects of the space between updates to this story is that I've had plenty of time to sit with the original ideas I had and figure out how to improve on aspects of it that weren't as developed as they should have been at the start. As a result, I will occasionally go back and make changes to previously written chapters to make things more consistent from start to finish. Generally speaking, I won't be changing anything too major, as I would generally like to avoid forcing anyone to go back and reread chapters they've been through already.

This go around, most of my rewrites were focused on the first chapter. Again, nothing major as far as the plot is concerned, but more subtle stuff in regards to Ruby and Qrow's dynamic. I didn't have a complete picture of the divide between them when I originally wrote it, and felt like it had to be brought in line with the hints that have been given in these last two chapters.

One of the more obvious changes I've made throughout the fic is being more consistent with how everyone refers to Oscar/Ozpin. Given how the meld between them is presented both here and in the canon, I felt like it would be more appropriate for Team RWBY to refer to him as "Oscar," while Hazel and his family will still think of him as "Ozpin" for character reasons.