Sleep has eluded me for some odd reason. Been up on and off since one and decided at quarter to four was a good time to write this chapter. So we'll see what happens between now and six-fifteen when I have to start really getting ready.

Thanks for the reviews and support for this story. Someone mentioned how great it would be to see Ruby hand Ozpin his ass (btw loved that comment and review!) I'll try working it in the story later.

New Divide

When Ruby woke up again, it was twilight. Her mind was much calmer as this time, she remembered exactly where/when she was: I am at Beacon Academy, they are here, and everyone I love and care deeply about is ALIVE.

Sighing she starts to get out of bed, "Ms. Rose." She stops and sees the nurse coming into the door, "Glad to see you are awake; you gave everyone quite the scare."

Ruby smiles, but then winces at the double meaning behind the greeting. Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly she answers, "Yea I am going to have to apologize for that, so if I can just leave-"

"Not yet. I need to clear you first; however I suppose I can let you get into new set of clothes. Your team came by just before they went to supper and dropped these off for you." The nurse hands her the clothes and leads her to the bathroom, "Go right ahead and get changed then we can talk about discharging you."

"Wait what about Crescent Rose?" Ruby asks as she recalled her baby. She looks towards the bed and sighs, seeing the weapon that had and will always be by her side like a faithful friend.

The nurse smiles fondly at the young girl, "Your sister wouldn't listen to your teammates nor me about putting it in your locker. She insisted that you wouldn't do anything anyone says without seeing it first to make sure it was alright." Damn right, Ruby thought with a small smile missing how Yang always looked out for her, "Now go get changed."

Ruby nods and enters the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. The first shock since her second awakening was how young she looked. Her face was scarred free, no worry lines were by her eyes, and her complexion was healthy. The only difference that she could see was her eyes. Over the years, that was the one thing she definitely kept track of. Not only because she noticed it in herself, but she would always hear talk amongst her friends when they thought she wasn't listening, and that was how her eyes had changed.

In the innocence of her youth, she heard that her silver eyes were always alight with a brightness of happiness and wonder. Shining brightly as the sun in the sky. However as the times grew darker and the war with the Grimm and Salem waged, that brightness dimmed with sadness, anger, and everyone could see the weight she had come to bare; both as a team leader and the warrior she was destined to become. Then, with the demise of her friends and family, there was a raw fury that left her eyes almost permanently glowing; nothing stood in her way then. The last year of her previous life could attest to that.

Looking now in the reflection, her eyes hadn't changed; but that statement could be considered false if one looked closely enough. They didn't seem to shine as bright as they had at one point. They still had a haunted, sadness look to them but now had also a depth of her hidden power. This brought her up short. Leaning over the sink, she looks closer as she scolds herself. How could she have been so careless to not think…her silver eyed powers and the abilities that she had come into contact and trained with unbridled skill? Did she still have access to those?

There was another thought that went with that as she now quickly got changed, and noticing the bandage on her chest, she took that off only to see fading white lines. That's right, she thought thinking back to the faint explanation that Blake told her, the Ursa. How had her overall skills and aura changed? She was now fully dressed and was finishing lacing up her boots, there was so much she had to figure out. Her aura, her other abilities aside from her normal semblance, her silver eyed powers…all that and more. Including Crescent Rose, would she have to change that?

Her headache started coming back. She hadn't really thought this through very well when she stepped through that damned door, "Dolt of course you didn't." A voice that distinctly sounded like the Weiss from her timeline came to her head, "Since when have you thought anything through when it came to your well-being?"

"Since it didn't ever matter what happened to me, it is you guys I cared about more." Ruby grumbled out-loud answering the mental question.

There was a knock on the door, "Are you alright dear?"

"Fine, just finishing up." Ruby called back. She used her fingers to quickly brush her now shorter hair out and looked herself over once more, I really have to update this wardrobe; and so that was added to her now seemingly never ending things to do.

Exiting the bathroom, the nurse led her back to the main room and started to do a quick check-up; asking Ruby things from 'do you know who you are', and 'who your team is' to some of the more difficult things like 'how old are you' (she had to think on that one fairly hard-she guessed that she was fifteen, almost sixteen), and 'do you know today's date'. That one she had to admit that she didn't know exactly and passed it off that school made things blur together. The nurse nodded along, seeming to buy that excuse, "It's Thursday, dear. But otherwise you got everything correct." The nurse typed in her results and gave her an aura reading, "As for your aura, it seems to have finally stabled out; which is good in comparison when you first arrived; however," Ruby perked up at this, "this is odd, your aura seems to have increased in power."

"That's not normal?" Ruby asked, half in mock ignorance and half in genuine curiosity. She knew that her aura had grown over the years since she had first stepped foot in Beacon, but she didn't really know what her level was when she first started out.

"It is, but this level I've only seen in mature hunters and huntresses." The nurse responded slowly, "Generally it takes years for this kind of power to develop." Shaking herself from her musings, she says, "I am going to give you the all clear that you can do anything in your classes. No restriction in other words, but I am going to put a watch in you file about your aura level. Any sign of distress and it is right back here. No arguing with your teachers. Understood?"

Ruby nodded, "Understood. Can I meet with my team now for dinner?"

"As soon as you put your weapon back in your locker." The nurse said smiling, handing Ruby a copy of her release form with the diagnostics, "Keep these for your reference and hopefully I will not be seeing you soon."

Ruby nodded and hopped off the bed and took Crescent Rose with her. She read over the paper she was given and quickly the pieces fell into place, "Your young self's soul would be gone, completely merged with you. Essentially you would be you in a younger body." The God of Light had told her. Aura is the manifestation of our soul,Ruby thought as she folded the paper and paid attention to where she was going, so my aura is reading as if I was twenty-five; not the fifteen year old…so then I wonder- her train of thought was cut off when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Acting on honed instincts, in a flash of petals, she had Crescent Rose in its rifle mode pointing right at who had grabbed her, "Whoa Ruby!" It was Yang and she had her hands up in defense. Blake and Weiss stopped in shock not really knowing what to do or how to help.

Yang saw Ruby's eyes darken slightly and she could swear that those same eyes were glowing, "Ruby it's me. I didn't mean to startle you." She added lightly hoping to get her sister to back off.

Ruby's mind quickly caught up with her actions and she put her weapon down, "Yang, it's not right to sneak up on someone!" Get it together Rose! She scolded herself for being so out of it.

"Sneak up? Did you not hear us calling you from down the hall?" Yang asked, "And anyway what are you doing out of the nurse's office?"

"No I didn't. I was lost in my thoughts about things. To answer the second question, I was released. I was going to put Crescent Rose away and meet you all in the dining hall. So what are you doing here?" Ruby asked continuing in the direction where she remembered where the lockers where.

The other followed after her, "Dinner just got done. We made you a plate and was going to bring it to you." Blake said slowly.

Weiss showed the plate to her partner and she added, "We saw you walking down the hallway and tried to calling to you. What were you thinking so deeply about anyway that you couldn't hear us?"

That is the fifty million lien question isn't it? Ruby thought cynically, but then brought herself up short. Why was she being like this? She was just relieved to be back with her team, her friends not too long ago. However now that she realized it, this very point was adding to her stress of the never ending list. Yes they were her team, but then again they were not her team; just like technically she was their Ruby, but not their Ruby. Time travel, it's a cornucopia of disturbing concepts, she thought to herself somewhat amused. Shaking herself out of her web of thoughts, she answered Weiss's question, "Just about the long list that is waiting for me. I know I was out like all day. I am sure I have a lot of work that I need to do for tomorrow."

The three of them looked at one another and then at their leader. Yes that was true, but hearing it from the tiny reaper was not sitting right with them. Blake nudged Yang and with her eyes motioned to the girl. Yang nodded and tried to be cheery and casual, "So how are you feeling anyways?"

"Fine. I woke up with a bit more clarity than the first time; which reminds me, Weiss I am so sorry." Ruby said stopping at the door to the locker area and looked at her partner and felt instant shame as she glanced to the heiress's throat and saw the now fading bruise. Granted, she supposed to could have been a lot worse had Yang and Blake not been there at the right time to pull them apart, "Does it-?"

"No, it is actually better than before. Should be healed by tomorrow." Weiss said waving it off not liking the self-loathing look the girl got in her eyes, "Just what were you dreaming about anyway that caused that? I do not think I ever saw you have that reaction before."

Ruby managed to hold back a wince at that remark. She hoped that one of the skills she hadn't lost during her fall through the void was her ability to lie, "I honestly do not recall."

No one commented to her on that as she pushed the door open and saw the multiple lockers. She pulls her scroll out and starts to discreetly look up her locker number. Finding it, she fiddles for the passcode and the door comes open. Her eyes widen, "Damn was I always this messy?" She asks out loud. Her locker is filled with wrappers, cookie crumbs, old weapons magazines, and scattered papers. How the hell had she managed to deal with this?

"Do you not see the room we live in?" Weiss asked critically, but secretly wondering why Ruby was just realizing this now and her choice of words.

Blake's line of thought was the same as Weiss's, however Yang ignores the tone of the general comment and instead, slaps Ruby on the back, causing the younger girl to stumble forward, "Wow Rubes, did you hit your head or something? Ice Princess has been on your case about picking up after yourself for a while now. How is this new to you?"

"It isn't." Ruby states while rotating her shoulder from where Yang slapped, "And can you watch your strength please; I just got out of the nurse's office and she specifically mentioned she didn't want to see me for a while. I'd rather not go back there."

"Alright, I am just trying to liven you up a bit. Sheesh." Yang comments shrugging, "You know Blake is the one with the claws not you right?"

"Yang!" Blake yelled softly looking around. This brought Ruby up short as had reached in and started removing some the garbage in her locker. She had motioned to Weiss to put the plate down and bring the garbage can over, however they both looked to the cat faunus and the brawler.

"What? It's the truth. You heard of 'kitty got claws' right? You are a cat faunus, Ruby isn't. So really you should have the claws not her."

"Seriously shut up." Blake growls out still looking around for signs of ease droppers.

Yang shrugs, "Relax no one is here."

"But someone could have walked in." Blake counters firmly, "I've only started accepting that you guys know the truth for three months now. I'd rather not have anyone else know who I was affiliated with."

Ruby tuned out the rest of the conversation in a daze as she started to throw things out. That was at least another un-asked question was answered. Three months…that meant that three months ago Blake had accidently revealed her secret to them in that argument with Weiss when they first got roped into the robberies with the White Fang. This did bring a question to her mind on the other hand. She knew that the dance to celebrate the Vytal Festival and her technical first encounter with that…bitch was going to happen soon. She just had to figure out when, and how she was going to take down Cinder. It didn't matter though, because that bitch will be going down if Ruby had a say in the matter, "Uhm Ruby?" Weiss called out noticing the look on her partner's face.

This stopped Blake and Yang's debate on privacy and the 'no big deal' attitude to look at the two girls, "Ruby?" Weiss called again.

"Huh?" Ruby was jolted from the dark thoughts racing in her mind, "Sorry what?"

"Think that magazine is wrapped up enough there?" Weiss asked motioning to the now nearly shredded magazine in Ruby's hands.

Ruby laughed nervously, "Uh oops. My bad." She promptly picks up the remainder trash pile and throws it away.

"Where do you keep going?" Blake asks watching Ruby's expression carefully.

Ruby resumes her sorting, removing notebooks and her tool kit to make room for her 'baby', "What do you mean?"

"You are being a bit weird." Yang comments lightly but Ruby doesn't miss the air of seriousness as she looks at her team, "Weirder than usual."

Ruby shakes her head and closes her locker, only keeping her tool kit and her weapon in there. She keeps the notebook and one (she assumes the more recent) weapons magazine, "Look I am sorry, but it has been a long day. So I guess why don't we go back to the room and just relax and I can get some stuff done?" Ruby suggested, "I am sure I'll feel better in the morning you know?" Not sure what to make of it, they agreed. Yang started with her conversation again, and Weiss walking next to Ruby with the plate in her hand, and Blake just watching the reaper, not really buying into her words. Being in the White Fang had taught her a lot of things, one of them knowing how to read people, and Ruby was definitely hiding something deep.

Meanwhile Ozpin was sitting in his office. He was just sent a copy of an email that had gone out to all of Ruby Rose's instructors. Opening it, he saw the instructions from the nurse and the medical relatedness as to what they would need to know. However since he was the headmaster of the school, he was privy to a bit more than that. On his computer he pulled up her file side by side with the current medical record that he was just given. Getting up, he goes to the large screen and leaning on his cane, he starts to read through it, puzzled by these new developments, "Well we are in for an interesting second year." He mutters, but as he ponders this over, he feels a chill run down his spine that sends the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up; almost as a silent warning, of what exactly? He did not know.