I PASSED MY BOARDS! I am happy to say I can now apply to the state to get my CVT license. It's been a long journey and I nearly had a panic attack on the drive to my testing center but I am happy to say I made it.

Now to celebrate here is the next chapter.

New Divide

It had been a few days since the incident with Tyrian. Ruby had made them stay at the camp until their strength and auras had healed. Especially in regards to Pyrrha. The warrior had made some bounds as far as recovering from the venom that had been injected into her body- however Ruby was being extra vigilant that she not overdue anything. In fact she wasn't allowed to do anything and that was the problem- no one was allowed to do anything.

Ruby had made it clear that they all rest and recover, however there was one person that wasn't doing just that- Ruby Rose herself. Pyrrha sighs and Jaune looked at her, startled, "Hey you alright? What hurts?"

"Nothing Jaune for the thousandth time." That was another thing that was starting to grate on her normally widespread patience. She saw out of the corner of her eye that he winced and looked away from her. While it was sweet that he cared so much for her and he wasn't as overbearing as their red cloaked leader, his constant question on her health was getting annoying, "I'm sorry, but this…" she makes a gesture around the camp as everyone else seems antsy and eager to start moving while Ruby stares aimlessly into the fire, "is getting old. I want to move, and do things. I am not fragile."

Jaune lets out the breath he had been holding and nodded, "Yea I know. I'm sorry it's just…" He felt pressure on his hand and looked to see Pyrrha's hand holding his, "I hated to see you that way. Quite frankly if Ruby hadn't stepped in then-"

"I don't want to think about that." Pyrrha said softly as she looked back towards the fire pit. That night hadn't been talked about. Yang tried to broach the subject with her sister, but Ruby had clammed up; but those silver eyes and the tone of voice so unlike the young girl hadn't left her mind. Except looking at Jaune, it was his blue eyes darkening into that feral glare and his kind voice deepening to something so uncaring. It takes a lot to scare her, but this lone thought sent minor chills down her spine, "I don't want to think of Ruby like that nor you for wanting to do something-"

"Pyrrha he-"

"I know Jaune, I know."

"I don't think you do know." Jaune whispered out. He stood up, and they had looks of curiosity sent their way before the others went back to whatever it was they were doing. He ran his hands through his hair before leaving his left on the back of his neck and his right on the hilt of his sword, "He was crazy. No that isn't the right word." Jaune paced a moment before stopping, "Sadistic. Yes that is the better word. By the sounds of it, he took so many lives. Nearly took yours!"

Pyrrha stood up now and made a move to silence him, but Jaune wasn't having it, "You know I've been thinking about it since that night, but a part of me wishes Yang didn't interfere." Seeing her look of shock he continues, "Because now who knows how much more dangerous he will be to not only us, but to other innocent people too."

Before Pyrrha could have a chance to respond, Ruby calls out, "Alright everyone over here."

"We're not done." Pyrrha commented to him and started to go over to the fire pit. Jaune watched her for a moment before swearing under his breath and rubbed his face aggressively in frustration.

Ruby looks at them and sees the hesitation in their expressions. Maybe she was being too overbearing, but she knew no one had the strength or stamina to move forward. She certainly wasn't risking anything if things at Haven should go to shit. She most certainly wasn't one hundred percent having taken on all duties to ensure that they all were well rested, "Alright so I know you all are frustrated with me for keeping us here."

"That's an understatement;" Yang muttered arms crossed; out loud though she said, "and not the only reason sis."

Ruby sighed having heard Yang's previous comment, "Point taken." Running a hand through her hair she continued, "Anyway I figured we can leave tomorrow morning." She pulled out a map and showed them, "If we leave early we should get to Haven by tomorrow night if we don't stop for breaks."

"So then what would the plan be from there?" Weiss asked slowly.

This Ruby hadn't a clue. She had based all her decisions on knowing what was to come. She's from ten years into the future for goodness sake. She's supposed to know what's going to happen, or at least what is supposed to happen. Now though, her losing control like she had, made her rethink her decisions.

It was around about way of thinking, Ruby supposed; knowing how events are predicted to unfold. To the contrary, her very presence has altered the flow of history, beginning with her attacking Ozpin in his office that day, thereby culminating in the events of today…creating an entire new chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated even to someone like her. Almost like an alternate reality; but even this alternate reality had in essence tried to right itself to the time continuum that she had disrupted.

She perhaps was deluding herself to think that certain destinies could be changed; after all she didn't know how long it took Blake to rally the faunus of Menagerie and Pyrrha's close encounter with death had her startled. She hadn't forgotten the God of Light's warning about things she wouldn't be able to change, however this triggered something within her. Something that had been plaguing her since that night.

"Once we get there, we need to find Lionheart and talk to him." Ruby eventually answered, or maybe make him change his mind about joining Salem. Since she didn't know exactly when Lionheart made the decision to betray Ozpin in the first place, she just knew not to trust him right now.

"But you mentioned something about the relic." Jaune pointed out, "How are we going to get that without the Spring Maiden?"

This was another snag. Ruby knew she still had part of Raven's maiden powers. Maybe, just maybe, that would be enough. Again though, she had to get there before Raven decides to crash the party, "Don't worry about that. I'll handle that part."

"Ruby-" Yang said in a warning tone.

"But the faunus?" Nora asked cutting Yang off, receiving a glare from the blonde woman, "You sent Sun and his team to Menagerie. How do you know that they got there or managed to succeed in their mission?" With this, she sent Blake an apologetic glance.

Blake for her part just nodded and motioned Ruby to answer, "I don't." Ruby admitted, "We just have to have faith that they pull through." Then looking directly at Blake she adds, "The note I mentioned before we were…rudely interrupted? Well I gave your father a brief warning."

"How so?" Blake asked, then in a darker tone, she added, "You didn't use me as bait did you?"

"No! No nothing of the sort." Ruby said waving her hands in front of her, "I just merely said that I had word that the White Fang was going to attack Haven Academy like they had done at Beacon and that our team was going to need help in stopping them. I just briefly told them who you all were and that you personally left the White Fang and was trying to honor the faunus by helping stop their attack and that you were safe-that is as far as I mentioned you." Giving Blake a soft look, she said, "The rest of the story you can tell them when Sun manages to convince them to help if you'd like."

Blake nods, and gives her a small smile, "Alright I suppose that was fine if that is all you mentioned of me."

"It was. I personally wouldn't use you as bait for anything. I'm sorry if that is how it sounded earlier. If so, I understand why you were so angry."

"Pardon me for saying;" Ren starts out slowly getting Ruby's attention now, "however this sounds like too many variables for you to account for. Sun, the faunus, this Lionheart, the relic, the White Fang, this Cinder Fall that we have yet to meet…what is the backup plan for all of this should something happen?"

They looked back at Ruby again and Ruby sat down on her log and stared darkly into the flames. She calls up her memory of the battle of Haven and tries her hardest to think of the ways she would have changed that outcome had she had all the information she needed then. But again, this draws her dilemma that she had been forced to face: this was somewhat of an altered reality. For once she admitted her unsureness to her friends, "I haven't thought of one yet." She admitted taking her glare off the fire and looked at them, "However one thing at a time. We need to get to Haven first and see what happens from there." Then she stood up again and clapped her hands, "For now we focus on the present. Pyrrha and I are going to get dinner."

"Wait what?" Pyrrha asked surprised.

"Yup. Jaune and Weiss can get some more firewood. Blake and Yang can set up a watch schedule, and Ren and Nora can do a quick inventory of our remaining belongings so that way when we get to Haven we can restock before we do anything else." They looked at her with raised eyebrows, "What? You all complained that you are bored and ready to move, so prove it."

Pyrrha looked at Jaune, "How about Jaune and I can-"

"Nope. I want to see if you really are ready. So we are partners for this. Let's go before we lose too much daylight." Ruby said with a smile, but when she turned away from them to make her trek into the woods, her smile fell. Pyrrha shared a look with Jaune and the rest of the team before following after the red reaper. It was an ominous feeling that she felt within her as her stomach started to twist itself in knots.

They walked mostly silence through the forest. Pyrrha staring intently at Ruby's back. Ruby kept her eyes forward, but could feel Pyrrha's gaze boring hole's into her back. It was actually getting annoying that Ruby finally sighed and stopped suddenly, Pyrrha nearly crashing into her, "Just ask me whatever you want to ask please."

Pyrrha sighed, "I don't know really what to ask you. We ask you things sometimes and mostly you side-step or just give us around about explanation."

Ruby still hadn't turned to look at her directly, but she closed her eyes and winced slightly, "I won't." Then softly, so that Pyrrha had to strain to hear her, she adds, "Not this time."

Pyrrha didn't quite know what to say to that, so she decided to start with what Jaune had mentioned to her this morning, "I don't know how much you overheard earlier…" She paused and looked down to the ground, "but Jaune…he said something to me…"

Ruby slowly turned to look at her, eyebrow raised slightly in question. She had heard pieces of their conversation. It wasn't like she was purposefully ease-dropping on the conversation, but like the others she had been curious. It was when the raised voices that were not yet to the yelling stage that she had decided it was time to intervene and force the decision that it was time to move things along, "He said that he wished Yang hadn't intervened that night." Pyrrha was still looking down as she admitted this fact, "Or that if you hadn't…he...Ruby did you get like that because of me?" She ended up asking now looking at the red reaper in the eyes.

Ruby's eyes had widened at this. She recalled Jaune's anger at Cinder during the battle of Haven. How the knight had been looking to pick a fight with the vindictive Fall Maiden for killing the gladiator like warrior before her, "Ruby please. You didn't want to talk to Yang about that night, but when I did come to for a bit, Weiss had told me it was building, but Tyrian stung me and next thing everyone knew, you took his tail and tried to kill-no execute him." Pyrrha explained, "Do you wish that Yang hadn't interfere?"

Ruby looked away now and took a deep breath, "Yes. I do. As for that night, Weiss was correct for the most part. When he actually almost killed her, I nearly lost it then."

"So I was the final source of ignition?"

"If you want to call it that." Ruby said and then kept walking.

Pyrrha shook her head and followed after, now no longer able to keep quiet, which was problematic since they were supposed to be hunting, "Now that is what I am talking about. You are side-stepping me." She jogged in front of the cloaked girl and made her stop, "Now what the hell does that mean? What happened to you? This…that…did happen overnight nor over the time we had left Beacon. What could have caused you to willingly take the life of another?"

Ruby closed her eyes and then opened them, looking around at the area they were in. She supposed this was the time. Listening closely, she hears the babbling of water and leads Pyrrha into that general direction, "Feel like fishing?" Ruby asked.

"I want answers." Pyrrha said.

Ruby kept walking as she turned to look at Pyrrha, "See the trouble with that is there is no one answer. It's that there are so many answers." Turning back around, she finds through the trees a serene looking lake. Stopping just at the edge of the area, she looks out at the peacefulness as Pyrrha stops next to her and gazes at the beauty, "And when a person cannot answer directly to your question," Pyrrha looks at her now as Ruby continues to speak in a soft tone, "it's probably because the answer is too painful for you to know or too hard for them to admit."

"Ruby-"

Ruby walked out of the woods and sat on the edge of the lake. She shrugged her bag off her back and pulled out two collapsible fishing poles, "Here. Come sit."

Pyrrha hesitated for a moment before going over and taking one of the poles, "Do we have any bait?"

Ruby nodded and pulled out two hot dogs, "Here. It works."

"You have hot dogs and we didn't eat these why?" Pyrrha asked with a raised brow.

"Trust me, you don't want to eat these." Ruby said putting it on her hook and casting her line into the water. Pyrrha shrugged and did the same. Both young women sat in silence now, Pyrrha with her own thoughts knowing that the probability of Ruby giving her an answer was as good as Jaune wearing a dress at a dance; and Ruby toiling in her own mind not knowing where to start and instead choosing to observe their surroundings to help distract her.

She didn't know when the leaves started to change colors, nor how many weeks passed since she left home- or in fact died at the hands of Salem and the relics. She ignored the warrior sitting next to her, choosing instead to overlook the large lake in front of them, the words not able to come easily to her, "I don't know where to start." She admitted, "I want to answer you; I really do. In fact that was the reason why I split us up. It was to talk to you, not just see if you were really ready to start traveling again."

Pyrrha stayed silent as if just her simple presence will get the red reaper to open up, her mind going to her previous thought about Jaune in that dress. She just focused on her fishing line, hoping the fish would still bite- clearly it was important if Ruby had been willing to split the pairs, "I guess there is no easy way to do this. Gods I wish there was another way." Ruby took a long breath in resignation, "What I am going to tell you…you will be the fifth person to have this knowledge." Silver eyes turned molten pools of steel, "What I will tell you, you need to keep to yourself. I will tell the others when I am ready to."

The warrior felt herself stiffen as she locked gazes, Ruby's penetrating stare leaving no room for any type of argument, "There is only one reason why I feel it is only right that I tell you this before we reach Haven. I've currently saved your life two times." Pyrrha made no move to react to this admission, "There might not be a third time."

"What do you mean? You've only saved my life one time. It was from that sting." Pyrrha commented slowly.

Ruby shook her head, "I actually saved all of you in different ways, by not having you all at Beacon the night it fell. Your life being the topic of discussion here."

Pyrrha's eyes widened at this, "My…my life? I mean sure I guess if we were there, then there would've been a chance for all of us to die, but to just have this pointed out that I would have specifically-"

"You would have, ok?! You were meant to die at Beacon!" Ruby said furiously standing now and throwing her fishing pole to the ground in frustration. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her reflection in the lake and saw that her eyes were glowing and getting the red tinge to them. Taking a deep breath in, she exhaled slowly and sat down once more looking at her friend in a softer gaze, "I'm sorry. That came out harsher than I intended." She said in a soft tone looking away now.

Pyrrha shook herself from the shock of Ruby's aggression towards her. Next to her, she sees that her leader is breaking. Taking a deep breath herself and exhaling it out, she reaches out to the young girl and grabs her hand, giving it a small reassuring squeeze, "It's alright. But I still do not understand, was there like an assassination attempt on me specifically or something? Like what makes you think that I am a target?"

Ruby pulls away and closes her eyes, fighting the memories of that night atop of the tower in her own timeline. Opening them once more she looks at her friend and says, "I am going to tell you a story. I just ask that you keep an open-mind like you did for everything else."

"Is this another fable of yours?"

Ruby smirked, "I guess you could call it one, however unlike the others, this one hits really close to home you could say. Just like the others though it is true." Allowing her smirk to fall, she starts, "This story's focus is about a young girl with a dream to become a huntress…"